An Australian miner has come up with a hack that guarantees a balcony room during any mandatory stint in hotel quarantine.
Cairns-based geologist Dean Williamson has spent nine weeks in quarantine at the Pacific Hotel as he works on a fly-in, fly-out basis mining contract to Papua New Guinea.
Now in his second round of a two-week lockdown at the hotel, Williamson has shared how he secured a better room.
The view from a balcony room at the Pacific Hotel in Cairns which travellers can secure by using a simple hack
'I'm telling all my mates to say they're smokers or they might not get a balcony,' he told the Courier Mail.
Mr Williamson said he's fortunate that his company is covering the cost of his stay.
'My company pays for my quarantine, but I'd be pretty cracked off if I was on the bones of my a*** and had to pay for this,' he said.
The geologist provided photographs of the food he has been supplied with, which seems to be boiled chicken and vegetables.
Other guests have complained of receiving food they 'wouldn't even feed their dogs', such as mouldy dinner rolls.
The Pacific Hotel has been contacted for comment.
Williamson might have got a balcony room but he wasn't happy with the food he was given during his mandatory isolation
The Pacific Hotel in Cairns is a COVID isolation hub for interstate and overseas travellers