The end of the world…

… or its beginning.

I’ve seen the Southern cross today. The real one! Truly, it was only for a while because then the clouds came again. But I’ve seen it. It’s real. Now the sky is sully covered with clouds again. It was as if I had been meant to see the proof that I’d reached the South.

I experienced a sort of shock because when finally we started landing in Auckland and went below the cloud level, beautiful sun changed into pouring rain.

The luggage I collected was wet. And getting into the car of Jacek, my roommate from the school years in Warsaw, living in New Zealand for 24 years, was also in jets of rain. The journey from the airport was like travelling through rainy Warsaw so I felt like home at least for a while, meaning: almost all the time in a jam. Well, not quite like home because here you always always drive the wrong side of the road. We arrived home after dusk. A typical autumn day – because here it’s mid-autumn now. And it doesn’t look like the weather’s going to change much. Who’s coming to New Zealand at this time of the year? Perhaps people from the Sahara?

Anyway, I’ve landed and gone through VERY scrupulous examinations whether I wanted to transport dangerous articles. In the customs declaration you have to declare everything, even running shoes. Paper control happens three times, and then follows searching through the luggage. In my case it was enough to put the luggage into the scanner. The penalties are enormous, so when in doubt it’s always better to note something down instead of risking. I am looking at people who have their luggage searched. The Customs Officers simply go through everything and if they find any food, they take it away. I am informimg you because when I read sites on New Zealand, i’ve never found anything of this kind on the fora. Neither did I know that I was supposed to fill in customs declaration to Australia twioce, when I was enetering and when I was leaving. They really treat it seriously.

Tomorrow there’s a free day. It’s time to give my cassock to the laundry (because it’s much worn because of all these travels) and to visit the Holy Sacrament. J

The first trip is only on Saturday, I am collecting my car tomorrow.

The good news is that I can tell you the fortune. I am 10 hours ahead of you. Here it’s midnight. I’m going to bed.

See you tomorrow

from Auckland in New Zealand

Father Jaroslaw