07/09/2008
The fourth day is over. Time goes really fast! Our plane was scheduled to depart at 9.35 am. Hence, we had to leave hotel around 7 am. Normally, it takes about 30-35 minutes to get from Sentosa to Singapore Changi Airport.  Unfortunately, this time it was more than an hour drive! We were unlucky because our taxi driver confused routes and we had to go the same way twice. What is more, Singapore is completely jammed at this time of a day, and we were in a rush. Fortunately, we made it. We boarded a plane which was to take us to Perth. The plane was humongous – it was Boeing 747!!! It was amazing to fly it! You could get lost just entering it. The plane had several decks with separate entrances. Unfortunately, I didn’t sit together with Eliza, as there were no empty seats. But we were not far from each other. I was seated in a row by the window and Eliza was seated in the middle row. I must admit I had a very nice company. There was a lady with her dad travelling next to me. I suppose they were from China or Japan and they were very nice. I even exchanged a few words in English with the lady. The only bad experience were two moments of turbulence. I have to confess that I got really scared. It was really serious. The entire craft was shaking, and so was the tea which was just being served then. I looked through the window and I saw that one of the wings was moving! It was quite a scary view. But when I looked at the people around me I saw that they were not afraid. They looked as if nothing had happened. It cheered me up a bit. It was my first turbulence and the rest of the passengers must have had such experience before and knew that there was nothing to be afraid of. And so, everything went well. Father Tomasz Bujakowski and his friends: Ada and Marek, welcomed us at Perth Airport. It is winter in Australia. The Sun is shining, but the temperature is way lower than usual. We drove to the vicarage from the airport. We had an opportunity to eat real Polish dinner there and get some rest  Father Tomasz introduced us to Father Stanislaw, who runs a choir for the Polish community in Australia.  In the evening, we had a Mass at 7 pm. I had the honour to sing five religious songs: one at the beginning of the Mass, one for the sermon, one for the Eucharist, and two at the end of the Mass. It is very nice to sing for your countrymen who live at the world’s end  Those who gathered for the Mass were mostly young people who moved from Poland to Australia a few years ago. Some were born in Australia and have never been to Poland. After supper, we went to visit Father Tomasz’s friends, where we were to stay overnight. Ada and Marek have shown us the entire city at night, we saw all its most prominent buildings. It was very interesting  The day passed in a blink of an eye. And tomorrow – COCOS ISLANDS!!!