Nate4

Hi everyone.
I'm not British but, from what I see, this site seems to be pretty knowledgeable about travel so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Anyways, I am a 28 yr old Canadian who is applying to Australian Universities for either graduate dip. or masters of teaching.

I'm just looking for a opinions on what to expect. Since going to uni as an international student is going to cost me a small fortune, I figure I may as well try to enjoy my self. Therefore, I'd like to be in a uni that has nice weather and decent beaches.

I've looked at the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Perth areas.

-Is there much to do in Sunshine Coast? It looks really nice there, and more of a true Aussie experience.
-Is the "touristy" aspect of the Gold Coast really that bad? Also looks nice there and fun.
-Don't know much about Perth.It looks like it has nice beaches and weather...

I'm also interested in staying in Aus afterwards but that's if I'm allowed to...

I appreciate any advice or info,
Thanks.

Weebie

Firstly If you want teach in Australia you need the Dip Ed so that might be what you want more.

I reckon do Darwin, Cairns, Sunshine Coast it would be good. Australia doesn't really have uni towns such as Canada or America do but these are small areas with many young people travelling in.

Don't expect it to be any cheaper though than the cities.

Nate4

Ya I expect this to cost me a fortune. I'm saving for a year first, and I will still probably need to get student loan. Most likely will look for a p/t job when I get there too.

Sunshine Coast and Cairns look really nice, but it there much to do in my downtime? I was leaning toward gold coast beacuse it seems like theres more to do, but reading a lot of negativity about it being touristy etc...

bcworld

Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast...they're all 'touristy'. Don't really see that as a bad thing, there are many sides to the Gold Coast...it's not all high rises and trashiness, besides you might fancy that once in a while!

Of these I'd be most inclined to shy away from the Sunshine Coast...can't imagine going to uni there, I think it would be too quiet, a bit bland after a while. But we're all different.

Cairns could be fun.

spartacus

Amen to that.

I once tried to explain the same to my wife . . . she wouldn't have it . . .

moneypenny20

Gold Coast is good. There is trashy but it's very localised and the rest is more than civilised, close enough to Brissie for gigs etc. Unis are good too.

ColonialCousin

When I was a student, University of Wollongong (www.uow.edu.au) was a fairly popular option with the Canadian teacher wannabes. Got a fair few student teachers coming through to Wollongong back in 2004-05-06, so that might be something to consider.

IMO, Wollongong is as close to a Uni Town as you can get in Australia. A large percentage of its population is Students. Close to the beach, great pubs and events geared at students, and Sydney is just an hour and a bit away.

Petals

Bendigo Victoria, Latrobe University very popular with Canadians. They go there to to outdoor education post grad. My daughter met a lot when she was doing her post grad there.

Lots of night life for those that want it.

Nate4

Update: I was not accepted for a masters of teaching with Griffith Uni (gold coast campus) and from what I can tell, that was the only program available for international students for teaching to study on the GC.

I was however accepted at their campus in Brisbane.
As one of the main points of this experience was to get into that whole Australian beach culture, Brisbane looks farther than I would like from the beaches.
I know I sound picky, but for the money this is going to cost, I shouldn't do something unless its what I want.

For some reason I dismissed Wollongong based on 1 bad review...Since one of the posters here mentioned it, I looked at it and seems pretty decent. Close to Sydney if I want to visit and see stuff. Close to beaches. Weather?? How the weather is and beaches. Other opinions?

Also, Perth seems to be sticking in my mind since it seems to have a number of uni's there and great beaches and weather from what I read, but the one negative, it seems far from everything else.

Sydney looks nice, but was turned off at the number of people saying how expensive it is... and perhaps Wollongong is a cheaper substitute for it??

Thanks for any input.

jad n rich

Sunshine coast uni has a large amount of international students, as does my sons high school, and the local Tafe (college) . The uni is very modern with very expensive looking modern arty builidngs, from students Ive met there seems to be a very good social life, but the sunshine coast does not have the theme parks the gold coast has. One hour from brisbane 2 from gold coast. Uni is right on the bus exchange and masses of student accom. I know the local pub used to do uni nights and got over 1000 kids.

Sunshine Coast is small 300,000 population and pretty quiet but it aint totally dead, the uni is thriving and a lot of kids seem to totally love it there.

Nate4

What is the beach life like on the Sunshine Coast? Are the beaches there busy? Is it warm enough to use the beaches most of the year there? (without getting eaten by a croc or stung by anything deadly?)

Obviously I'd like a fun place. (Some previous posters said it was kind of boring)
But I'm less of a city person, more so outdoors. I don't care for "neat shops".
I'd like to rollerblade, canoe, hike...etc

Thanks
(I'm also considering Wollongong, but the weather looks nicer up north.)

bcworld

If year round weather is important then that should rule out Perth. In a normal year it has a cool, wet winter lasting 3 - 4 months. I say normal year because I think it didn't rain much last winter.

Winter is the best time to be in Qld.

Nate4

Thanks.

I'm incredibly indecisive and this helps a lot.

jad n rich

Weather on GC bris, and SC is warm year round, but with cool nights in june and july and Hot and often humid days in dec jan feb.

We have international students next door, from Norway and Germany, they are quite seriously never home, into wakeboarding surfing and beach plus time at UNI or school. IF your into the outdoors and sports I really cant say it would be boring. My eldest son lived here till he was 16 - 22, and there wasnt a weekend he didnt have a party or concert ( in bris ) or a sporting event.

OZ can be very boring if your like me and like cold weather and arts and culture, events, overseas travel, exhibitions, fashion etc ( melb has a litte of that but work for new is here) .

If you want the beach, hot weather and large crowd to party with I think SC, GC or even brisbane ( beach on weekend ) would be fine.

Turban Explorer

I wouldn't go to James Cook University. I did a masters there and the campus was a bit ramshackle and you needed a car to get from A to B. For the $14 k or whatever it might cost for the course fees could you try and visit a few places first? I'm a teacher but haven't been able to find a teaching position during the six months at all in Qld so a word of warning that it's unlikely you would get sponsored to stay after your degree.

Cairns, where I live at the moment, is a nice place and there are alot of young people around. Finding part time work would be tough as unemployment is high and even bar jobs have forty, fifty applicants...Work would be easier to find in big cities... Brisbane? Gold Coast ?