Cairns

I'm in Cairns in northern Queensland, and have been for a few days. Laptop access here for $4 for 1h in shop that I just found. Its humid. The aircon in my room does not seem to run, but I never get round to asking them to fix. Hostel is cheap, though - AUD18 for a room in a 6 bed dorm that at present has only me in it. I've booked a snorkelling trip for this weekend on the reef - go out on saturday morning and come back on sunday evening. some snorkelling in between. Then on Monday flying down to Melbourne to visit my Korean friend again. Lots and lots of 日本人 here so lots of signage (maybe as much as 40%) is written in 日本語。I can read a few words, but not enough to really understand much. Not so much Korean or Chinese which is a bit surprising as some cities I've been to have been covered in signs in those languages. Beer in hostel gets served in pints by default, better than further south where pots are the norm, some kind of gay 250ml glass (funny to watch australian men trying to impress UK girls whilst sipping on this little thimbles…)