Okay, it's time for a gripe. QANTAS, an airline I have supported and defended for years no longer has my loyalty. It all hapepned on my recent flight to New York.

It is probably their fault that boarding in Sydney was delayed 45 minutes. It is probably their fault that a smoke alarm wasn't working thereby causing consternation among the pasengers waiting to take off when five men and a ladder came marching down the aisle to the back of the plane. It took twenty minutes for the men to punch up one of the panels, reconnect the thing and secure the panel when they were done.


Okay, it is not their fault that a passenger got sick (maybe the men and the ladder alarmed her) and had to be deplaned along with 2 travelling companions and all their luggage.

But it is their fault that the seats in economy are jammed so closely together that it threatens health and safety especially on a long haul flight. Have OH&S ever looked into this?

And why did the toilets stink? One of the reasons for the initial delay was to clean the plane but they obviously missed this section or did they run out of deodorizer? For a minute I thought I was back on Garuda airlines twenty years ago.

Talk about running out, of course my choice of food on the menu was not available by the time they got to the back row. Okay, it happens. But surely there are some little pats of butter around for the dried out raisin scone (I'm still not sure what it was) at breakfast. I put the call button on to ask. After 10 minutes with no response, I squeezed out of the seat, tray in hand and went down to the galley. 'THey didn't supply us,' was the reply.

QANTAS you may have the reputation of being the safest airline in the world but your seating plan, your food, and your service leaves much to be desired, and given that you slashed the value of frequent flyer points by half this year, I shall be looking elsewhere for my next long flight.

I hear Etihad is very good value for money.

Travel tips for a long haul flight to the northern hemishpere in September

Having only 3 days between returning from Broome and leaving for USA-UK presented challenges of timing and packing. Luckily most of the clothes needed for the tropics could be left in the laundry basket. Even so I did 3 loads. Clothes for an English Autumn had already been listed and set aside in the wardrobe.

During one of the many waiting periods whle flying I wrote down my flying tips, things I have pretty much abided by for years.

First of all, it pays to have good, well designed luggage. I have been using a medium size Travlepro suitcase with accompanying small bag for years, for holidays of 6-7 weeks duration and will continue to do so until it falls apart.

PACKING:

- pack what you think you need then halve it.
- have 2 main colour themes which you can mix and match. You need fewer pieces and fewer pieces of jewelry this way.
-  plan on layers for most destinations
-  unless you are going on a camping safari, take one pair confortable walking shoes, one pair black 'dress' shoes and a pair of sandals. Wear the bulkiest of these for the journey. Stuff the rest with small things like socks, pills, lotions which can't be packed in cabin luggage etc;
 - tie a brightly coloured luggage strap around your suitcase. That way you can easily distinguish it from the mostly black suitcases trundling round the carousel at the airport. Also it's an extra bit of security around a bulging bag.
- If you fly within the USA most American airlines charge for more than one 'checked-in' bag. If you have a strong back use a large suticase that keeps you within the 20kg limit  for economy passengers. If you cannot haul around one bag be prepared to pay about $50.00 US dollars for the second one.

.Cabin luggage:
- some airlines stipulate a 7kg weight limit but most of the time on long haul flights don't check it;
- a wheelie bag makes life easier for walking to gates that are far away, plus you can drape extra coats and your handbag on it;
- have a cardigan handy for the cold cabins (although temperatures vary);
- if you have back problems like me carry an extra small pillow or cushion;
- If the airline doesn't supply it (and they're getting more miserly these days) carry a small handlotion to remoisturise your dried out skin, and small toothpaste and toothbrush. You feel so much better stepping off the plane with a fresh mouth.

Flying economy: there is no way round it, it is a hideous experience. Here are some tips that might help.
- The food is so so at best, if you sit in the back of the plane they will certainly run out of your choice of meal no matter how fancy the menu is;  
- drowning your sorrows in alcohol doesn't help because it dries you out, swig gallons of water instead;
- Pick the salad, fruit, cheese and crackers and leave the mushy garbage in the hot vicious foil tray. That way you avoid scalding yourself and sitting for hours with indigestion. One tip; the preselected vegetarian  dish is often easier to digest, you get your meal before the others and your choice is guaranteed.

Seating:
- The miniscule leg room increases your chances of deep vein thrombosis tenfold, so  buy the special stockings;
- these days you can pay a little extra for a bulkhead seat or emergency row exit seat which gives you more leg room BUT conditions apply. You have to be able and fit enough to open the doors in an emergency. I can't so don't bother applying;
- unless you are planning to take a sleeping pill and fly undisturbed for 12+ hours, book an aisle seat. That way you can get up and walk up and down the cabin to remind your circulation that you're not dead, and can visit the toilet as often as needed without disturbing anyone;
-it might pay to book an aisle seat at the back of the plane because these seats are filled last, although I must say it did not pay off for me this time since every flight was chockers. Still you can give yourself the chance.
- If you have an hour or two stop over en route, don't head for the bar, walk, walk, walk. Airport concourses offer plenty of space for this so take advantage of it. You will decrease the risk of DVTs, ease the stiffness of seating for hours and aid digestion.

After all this you may end up at your destination feeling half human. Hopefully someone is at the other end to meet you, hold your hand (and your luggage!) to listen to your gripes about the nightmare you've just experienced. Three days later you may be over the jetlag or you might be like me, up at 3 in the morning five days later writing blogs about travel tips.

Final days

Sept 3 Day 9


After our first night at Oakes Resort, Broome (they’ve been bitten by the Art Deco bug) we took a bumpy ride over the puny Pindas corrugations to the winner of many tourist awards, Willy Creek Pearl Farm. En route, we spotted a pair of Brolgas, birds in the crane family that perform a beautiful dance at mating time. See http://www.dreamtime.auz.net/default.asp?Page ID=54 for an aboriginal dreamtime explanation.

Whatever information was left out yesterday about pearls and pearling was filled in today. For instance the pearl meat I sampled is considered an aphrodisiac by the Japanese. (Can’t say I noticed those qualities myself, maybe I didn’t have enough!) It sells for $600.00 a kilo in Japan, $150.00 a kilo in Australia.

Here is the gist of what our guide told us about the creation of the Australian South Sea Pearls:

A South Sea pearl is produced by the Pinctada maxima mollusk. (I thought they said pink tartar)


Saltwater Nucleation In Pearl Farming

Two basic methods of nucleation are used. Saltwater oysters are generally nucleated using a "bead", prepared from mother-of-pearl. First, the bead is surrounded by a small piece of mantle tissue taken from a donor oyster. The bead and tissue are then implanted into the oyster's gonad. (ouch!)The bead serves as a nucleus, around which the pearl develops. The resulting pearl will contain the bead at its centre and will tend to develop in the same general shape as the original bead. The bead can be detected in the final pearl by x-rays.

Freshwater Mussel Grafting In Pearl Farming

Freshwater mussels (Willie Creek uses Mississippi mussels) are generally grafted using a piece of mantle tissue only, without a bead. This small piece of mantle tissue is placed into an incision in the host mussel's mantle instead of the gonad. Both sides of the valve can accept grafts, and an average freshwater mussel will produce 24 to 32 pearls per culturing cycle.

The oysters that don’t reject the bead (85%) are suspended in the salt water creek for 2 years, getting cleaned of marine growth every 3 weeks. (They use a lot of backpacker labour for these types of jobs.) These become the spherical south seas pearl.

Keshi pearls are formed when the oyster rejects and spits out the implanted nucleus before the culturing process is complete, or the implanted mantle tissue fractures and forms separate pearl sacs without nuclei. These pearl sacs eventually produce pearls without a nucleus.

Mabe (pronounced marbay) pearl is a hemispherical shaped pearl which is grown against the inside of the oyster's shell, rather than within its tissue. They are good for rings (I bought one of these in a ring at a shop near the resort) but obviously no good in a necklace.

Mother of Pearl in the oyster shell is used for guitar inlays, pearl handled pistols, in make up, car paint, the halogen on credit cards.

There are five important characteristics to look for in a pearl: size; shape; lustre; colour; complexion. Finding all five will cost you a bundle, but buying a pearl which gives you some of the five characteristics is more do-able. Which characteristics you are prepared to sacrifice depends on personal tastes and pocket books.

During free time in the afternoon, a few of us drifted into the famous Paspaley’s store. They farm 3 million oysters a year compared with Willy Creek’s 280,000. They also sell large pearls, nothing less than 3mm of nacre. That means big prices. We came, we saw, we didn’t conquer.

The day ended with yet another sunset watch, this time on Cable Beach, accompanied by champagne. We had our final dinner together at a nearby restaurant.

The next morning, (Day 10, Sept 4) after his day off, Bushie picked us up and took us to market. It reminded me of Byron Bay markets, a place where the local hippie types hang out selling their arts, crafts, clothes, home made candles, soaps, beads and silver. Not a large market but most of us were ready to board the bus for the airport well before the time of departure, tired out with the heat.

Broome airport is small and right in town. A new one is being constructed further out. The flight was an hour late, and we had to walk out on the tarmac up the steps to board. Another slightly famous Australian personality, the actor Gary Sweet went with us.

What did I love about this holiday? The rugged grandeur of the scenery; the vastness of the country; the warmth (although a few degrees less would be more comfortable); the wildlife (although I wouldn’t like to come face to face with many of them); the company, even the strangeness of Bushie.

Here are some ‘Bushieisms’ that didn’t make it in previous blogs: ‘fac silly me’ for facsimile and one I loved, ‘rudimental’ combining fundamental and rudimentary. Nutrients became ‘nutrigens’ and occupation ‘occupization.’

Am I being cruel? Maybe the guy has a problem with dyslexia, in which case he’s brave putting himself out there as a tourist guide/driver. But those constant references to ‘chicky babes’ queered his fate.

Thank you Bushie for a safe drive and thank you for providing me with some laughs at your expense.

Marie and Ray, the organisers of Thereabout travel did a great job with grace and fun to make our journey a memorable one.

Freshies and French letters

Sept 1 Day 7



First day of Spring. Not the spring of leafy green lush trees but red earth, scrubby growth and blazing sky. We’re in Hall’s Creek, site of WA’s first gold rush. Also once, not too long ago, the most violent town in Australia, mainly feuding clans. According to Bushie they were ‘contestual.’

Things are better now since the supply of grog is controlled, only light beers sold and in limited amounts at limited times of the day. Everyone knows everyone else, therefore being drunk brings shame not only on you but also on your people. For example, if you are found drunk waiting for the community bus, it will not pick you up. Anyone acting up in the pub is banned, your name, the nature of your offence and the length of ban are displayed behind the bar for all to see. ‘Name and shame.’

It seems to be working and money has been poured into the town. On one road the street lamps have their own individual solar panels. There is a new swimming pool but its use is conditional on attending school; ‘no school, no pool.’ When it was first built, attendance skyrocketed such that there weren’t enough teachers. Another beneficial side effect has been that the extra filtration system in the pool has helped clear up the chronic snotty noses and ear infections in the children, thereby giving the medical staff some relief.

In an effort to cut down on the rates of STDs, even the ‘hanky panky’ is taken care of in Halls Creek. French letter boxes filled with free condoms are strung from trees every few metres so that when anyone gets the urge they can protect themselves. Bushie didn’t say if it was working.

We had a tourist information bureau stop here; heard all about the heroism of Russian Jack aka

Ivan Fredericks (1864 - 1904), known as Russian Jack, was a goldminer of the Western Australian gold rush in the 1880s. In 1885, while working in the Halls Creek goldmines, he pushed his sick friend in a wheelbarrow 300 km through the Great Sandy Desert to Wyndham, the nearest town with a medical centre. A statue was erected to him in Halls Creek. He is buried in Fremantle Cemetery. [photo on my facebook page]

(Got this from Wikipedia since I was dozing off when Bushie related the tale.)

On the road again, Bushie told us to look at the scenery as this was the most scenic part of the trip Even though it is hilly, it is part of the Great Sandy Desert. Wedge tail eagles soar about looking for prey.

We had a toilet stop at Mary Pools, not much water but we still had to keep an eye put for salties. The more desperate among us used the outback dunny (I’ve been in worse) and some had a few words with a seasoned camper complete with satellite dish.

After lunch at Fitzroy River Lodge, we went on another cruise on the Fitzroy river in an open boat. I wet my pillow case cover to drape around my neck to cool it down. (A good tip for anyone planning these sorts of adventures. I got the idea from the ice collars sportsmen wear in the heat.)

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the river rises in the Durack Range in east Kimberley and traces a 325-mile (525-kilometre) course that flows southwest through the rugged King Leopold Ranges and the Geikie Gorge (where many freshwater crocodiles are found) and turns northwest through rugged country and plains, emptying into the Indian Ocean at King Sound. A tidal rise of 25 feet (8 m) is common at its mouth, which is 6 miles (10 km) wide.

We learned about the endangered sawfish (saw a TV program about it the other day so I actually saw what they look like.) More freshies were about, getting ready to lay their eggs. Apparently the locals can gauge how high the flood waters are going to be in the wet by how high up the bank the crocodiles make their nests. These are quite high. I shall watch with interest how big the wet is this year.

Back at the Lodge we went in the pool but I had a shock. Unlike all the pools thus far this one was cold. We didn’t linger.

Bright shining diamonds

Blog Aug 31 Day 6


It was nice having 2 days in one spot, getting laundry done etc. but now we’re on the road to visit the Argyle Diamond mine, Australia’s only major diamond producer and now owned by Rio Tinto.

We dropped twelve of the party off at the airport to do a flight over the Bungle Bungles. Here’s a site that tells you all about it: http://www.kimberlyaustralia.com/bungle-bungles.html

The rest of us continued by road to the mine.

This is Bushie’s version of how the Argyle diamond mine started. I prefer it to the sanitised version on line.

In the early 1970s Uranium miners from South Africa thought the terrain in the NE Kimberly looked good for Uranium. Maureen Muggeridge (got a high profile in the mining industry today) a geologist with the company went off on her own little expedition and found a couple of what looked like diamonds. She took them to the senior geologist. On further exploration they found a place littered with diamonds. They sent some off to be tested.

They kept quiet about their find. When the results were positive they kept super quiet. However, as these things go rumours developed but no one could find them. Seeking to quash the rumours, the wily Maureen and the senior geologist set up a dummy exploration site to put suspicious prospectors off the scent. It worked. As soon as the uranium mining lease was up in 1979 CRA (The company they worked for) submitted a bid for diamond prospecting at the site they’d kept secret.

Prospective prospectors were furious at being duped, tried to sue CRA but there was no case to answer. Negotiations with the local indigenous groups commenced, an agreement of compensation was reached and the mine was commissioned in 1985.

Hold onto your hats for information about the mine, courtesy of Ted our knowledgeable guide and an elder of one of the 3 indigenous groups in the area:



You want a job at the mine? Here are the conditions:

2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, day or night. Most people live at the compound (we tourists had to be quiet for those sleeping during the day.)

You will spend your time driving, OR operating machinery that crushes and/or sluices, OR operating shovels and bull dozers etc. dumping slag (the waste from the mine). All this in high heat, 46 degrees C in the monsoon season. No wonder the main complaint the two nurses on site treat is dehydration.

Female employment stands at 35%, they are aiming for 50% so ladies get your hard hats and come on down!

I never found out the what the money is but I assume it’s pretty good, and you will not be able to waste it all on booze, on the compound at least. Alcohol intake is regulated at the source, eg. light beers and only a few hours in which to drink. They breathalyse you before every shift and do random drug testing.

There are health and safety messages everywhere, a particularly fetching one in the toilets about monitoring the colour of your urine for signs of dehydration. If you become seriously ill the Royal Flying Doctor Service will fly you to a hospital.

I was surprised to learn that diamonds are found in the ‘pipes’ of extinct volcanos. This mine is projected to produce until 2010. So far they have been working on and near the surface but are gradually boring in 12 metres underground at an angle, eventually reaching a distance of 23 kms. So far, the main haul has been industrial diamonds (75%); gem quality (15%); and the highly sort after pink diamonds (10%). Every year they issue invitations to the rich and famous to purchase that year’s haul of pink diamonds. So far I have not received an invitation. Big money. A recent recalculation indicates that the south face of the mine is producing 80% of gem quality diamonds. Very rare blue diamonds have been also been found in small numbers.

Essentially processing the diamonds consist of crushing the rock several times, and sluicing off the dross. The diamonds are so hard they wear out the rollers in the cutters within 4 weeks. It is very expensive to replace them. The water used for sluicing is pumped from a nearby dam; the waste water is recycled to use again.

Once the diamonds are revealed the sorters move in, each one accompanied by a security guard. The sorters are searched at every break, and they’re x-rayed on the way out of the mine. Who’d be a guard!

All but the pink diamonds are cut and polished in India then sent to Amsterdam for sale and distribution. The pinks are cut, polished and stored in Perth.

School groups do tours in the hopes that some of them will work at the mines when they graduate. Although the workforce was cut drastically during the GFC numbers are again picking up.

A few people purchased diamonds including my travelling companion, in the form of a very pretty ring that sparkles in the sunshine. I bought a postcard.

red dust and rock pools

Blog August 30 2010


We’ve got to the stage where we’re asking each other what day it is.

Today’s itinerary is entitled El Questro. According to Bushie the name has no meaning, it is just a name. albeit the name of a large homestead which was once a million acre cattle station. Since then it has been broken up and the homestead caters for all class of tourists including an exclusive enclave for the rich and famous. According to Bushie, Nicole Kidman makes occasional visits to escape the ‘Patserati!’ As it happened we saw only the roof of the homestead from a distance.

Before we arrived there however, Bushie took us on a side trip around the Ord River Irrigation Scheme. In retrospect I think it was an excuse for a good rant. Here’s a potted history: the powers that be thought the black soil should be good for something. Originally rice and cotton were grown, turned out to be too thirsty. They tried melons, maize and chick peas; not enough bang for the buck. Now they are embarked on a 15 year project growing hundreds of thousand of sandalwood trees, apparently there is big money in it.

Bushie spits, ‘it’s a parasite!’

The sandalwood has to live off another tree so for every sandalwood producer another tree is planted then wasted. The other crop they’re trying is African Mahogany. Bushie has no time for that either. It has shallow roots and the branches fall off. The wood is used for making furniture. There is however a plus side to tree planting. They increase the water table which reduces the risk of salinity thereby regenerating the soil.

Speaking of trees, the boabs around Cununurra grow in families, the only place this happens apparently, there’s dad the big fella in the centre, then mum, sometimes more than one, then the kids, smaller trees round the outside.

We arrived at Chamberlain Gorge for a cruise, some of us wondering how we could possibly top Katherine Gorge. Well, where Katherine Gorge was spiritual, this cruise was a laugh a minute. Who would have thought that learning about lifejackets could be so hilarious. QANTAS could learn a thing or two from this joker. They had our full attention. Then…along came Buddy, Buddy Tyson, a tall aboriginal dressed like the cattleman he once was, and droll as droll could be. He would not disgrace the stage at the Melbourne comedy festival.

Here’s one of his stories. Some woman (no doubt imbued with romantic visions of a statuesque indigenous man armed with spear and loin cloth) asked him where he got his food. ‘Coles supermarket,’ said Buddy.

She expressed surprise.

‘Why would I want to go bush for weeks in the heat and the flies when I can buy it down the road?’ We laughed.

Buddy and the ranger took us to a spot in the water where the fish with seven spots hang out. They have a special trick. Their prey is flying insects. They lie in wait, mouths filled with water and then they shoot out a jetstream to capture their meal. (I think I’ve seen it on David Attenborough’s show) Buddy put tiny pellets of fish food along the side of the boat. The fish were already congregated. We were primed with instructions to hold the food pellet out and just let it go when the stream of water hit. It is so fast and of course the women squealed. Amazing.

We cruised back between walls of rock 1.8 billion years old, no fossils of course.

Before lunch we stopped at Zebedee Springs, a 700 metre walk from the bus in extreme heat, a bit hard on some of the more infirm of us especially since it was rocky underfoot in places. I expected a swimming area like the one a few days ago but no. This was a series of small pools, with access over the rocks. Once you find a stone to rest your bum in the soft warm water, it is worth it but not so pleasant for those on the sidelines with very little shade to sit in.

A barbecue of tough steak'followed before we headed back to a dip in the pool at Lakeside resort and yet another sunset, looking forward to tomorrow’s visit to a diamond mine.

Moving into Western Australia

Aug 29 blog Katherine to Kununurra




As we leave Katherine we pass Katherine Railway station. Bushie calls it ‘a bit of bitumen in the middle of nowhere’, and that’s what it looks like. Mind you a lot of things look like that here, it is so vast.

Kit and I are travelling with 2 bananas she purchased at Coles in Darwin. Wise move. They are few and far between up here. A waiter at the Knotts Crossing Motel where we stayed last night overheard us talking about the dearth of said fruit and brought us two on a plate. What a sorry sight they were, small and hard, more green than yellow. After a decent interval we thanked him but said no thanks. He was very sweet, a pom from Colchester who has no desire to return to England except on holiday. I know the feeling. The other cute and obliging waiter was French. Ooh la la.With threats of $5000.00 fines and expulsion from the bus if we had any fruit on board, we approached the border of Western Australia. The Kimberly area is disease-free apparently and wishes to remain so. At the last comfort stop before the border, we dutifully chewed the apples we had filched from the Knotts Crossing motel’s breakfast buffet, thereby escaping bag searches and disinfectant.

Western Australia covers one third of Australia. Here are some more facts about its size downloaded from a website entitled ‘Work and Play in Western Australia’

By European standards Western Australia is simply huge. It is larger than Western Europe and nearly four times the size of Texas. If you overlay a map of Western Australia on a map of Europe, Perth is level with Barcelona and Broome is roughly north of Newcastle. Now if you add in the extra 1100 kilometres from Broome to the Northern Territory border and the 500 kilometre hop between Perth and Albany - you are somewhere between Iceland and North Africa!

With over 2.5 million square kilometres, but only 1.8 million people living in the whole of Western Australia (1.3 million of which live in Perth), per capita of population - it’s about as spacious as you can get on planet earth!

The longer we drive though it the more I come to appreciate how spacious the state is, and in the north west part with its unrelenting heat (35 degrees Celsius rising to an average 45 degrees in Summer) the better I understand how dangerous it is should one become stranded. The trees are spindly so offer little shade, distances between townships enormous and traffic sparse.

Speaking of trees, we’ve been seeing a lot of Boabs, very like the Baobab trees I knew in South Africa. But these are the same type found in Madagascar. It is not known how they arrived in this part of the world, whether seeds floated in with birds or on boats, but the local indigenous people have their own creation story about them or as Bushie calls it, ‘coration’ story. Here it is:

The Creational Beings associated with the Rainbow Serpent made the boabs so wonderful with beautiful blossoms and luscious leaves that the trees couldn’t stop bragging about themselves. They talked on and on about how beautiful they were until all the other trees became sick of it. They asked the Creational Beings to do something about it. The Creational Beings reached down, ripped the boabs out of the ground, turned them upside down and put them back in the holes. Hence their description as upside down trees. They look like wine bottles to me. They grow to a certain height then stop, thereafter getting wider with age. A bit like us really.

Another intriguing tree in these parts is the Kapok. It is spindly with yellow blossoms on the end of its branches. The seed pod contains the material known as kapok which was used to stuff mattresses and pillows in days gone by, the kind I came across in hospitals when I was a student nurse.

En route to the Ord river where we were due to take a cruise later in the day, Bushie took a call on his Satellite phone. Like he said ‘Sat’ phone calls are not good news. There had been a drowning in the place where the cruise vessel was moored. It became a police matter thereby preventing our boat from picking us up. No matter, a few phone calls secured us an afternoon with the charming Scotty of Triple J tours with his old bus and brand new boat.

Scotty seemed to be well educated and was definitely easy on the eye. As one of our party said when the ladies were clicking away at Scotty posing with some crocodile eggs that had been plundered by dingos, sea eagles or other crocs, ‘it’s an excuse to photograph Scotty!’

Lake Argyle was our cruising site rather than the Ord River. It is Australia’s largest body of fresh water covering over 900 square kms at normal full supply level. Scotty said it was several times larger than Sydney Harbour and I believe him. We cruised the serene crystal waters for 2 hours and only covered a small part of it. The crocs in Lake Argyle are ‘freshies’ not friendly exactly but not as dangerous as the salties. We saw about three of them, rather small.

Bird life was present, with many examples of darts, black birds sitting on branches drying out their wings. I’ve never seen these before. Plovers, herons and pelicans were other varieties.

The area near the dam is so large and unpopulated, the Australians, Indonesians, French and Americans play war games there annually. Army engineers have built bridges that go nowhere and if planes fall out of the sky or a stray bomb goes off, no one will get hurt, apart from the pilots if they don’t eject.

Our hotel for the next two nights is the Lakeside Resort at Kununurra. Graced with a lakeside position, sunset views and a lovely swimming pool we a

re in for a comfortable stay.