glennandkate

Hi Everyone,
We have finally decided (at the moment any way!!!) where we are going in oz. But before we say a definate, has anyone got any views on Townsville?. We have two kids 12 and 14 so we want good high schools, want to live next to the sea, want a largish town and somewhere easy for us to find work and above all somewhere clean , pretty and warm..
Is Townsvile the place?

The_Stockwells

I've been to Townsville once when I was a backpacker in 2002. My general overall opinion isn't that grand I'm afraid! This is only my opinion, but I didn't find much to do there and didn't get a good feeling about the place. There is a nice shopping centre in the town but I felt intimidated by the drunk Aborigines that tended to hang around.

There is a really nice promenade area and I believe it's undergone some redevelopment. Maggie Island is also just a short ferry ride away and it's beautiful there.

As for schools and stuff I don't know. I'm sorry to sound negative, but this is only my opinion on Townsville and my opinion is very limited! If you do some more research, you may find a gazillion more positive opinions.

mackinnon

Just my opinion, but I agree with this post. Odd place.

WESTLY

Townsville High is not the worst in the world and The Cathedral School of St Anne & St James is a good as it gets, if you want to pay. I have taught at both of them. There are other excellent State schools in Townsville. As far as I know James Cook University is still there. In FNQ (Far North Queensland) the locals complain a lot about Southerners, by which they mean the politicians in Brisbane. It took me a while to appreciate that they were not referring to the gnomes of Canberra. A man in Cairns told me it was great place to live, if you could find a way of ripping off the tourists. All the best with your search.

Rabc

Some interesting opinions. We here it is. We moved from Kent to Townsville on October 2005 without ever being here before not to holiday, pass through or visit but to live. (we had been to Carins, Brisbane and plenty of other places around the country) What's it like?

Townsville is not much of a tourist spot like Cairns and as such it's doesnt appeal to those passing through. It's a working town which is is not to big and not to small. It is kept immaculately and has a really nice town centre and seafront, the Strand. Magnetic Island is just offshore and is a stunning bit of schenery and can easily be visited. To live here, we had never been here and feel settled already. There is plenty of work in just about everything and no outsider mentality as almost everyone was or is! Townsville is interconnected with Thuringowa (take a look at both the Council's websites). The area is divided into little towns with there own little shopping centres and other facilities. there is tons of house building going on in Thuringowa while Townsville retains a more traditional air. The North Ward is a lovely area but just north of the City centre and is therefore expensive. Houses range from a $85000 small ex army Queenslander style house to a $2.5m hilltop retreat with Ocean views. The average house price is I suppose $200-$300K and for that you get a nearly new 3-4 bed huge (by UK standards) home possibily with a pool. (rents tend to be 1% of the value ie $200-250 pw as compared) Look at www.townsville-real-estate.com for a good idea of what's available. Being close to the town is not as important as at home as you can drive from one side to the other in the rush hr in 15mins!

There is no traffic and everyone we have met so far has been really nice and most have some sort of English connection! As for crime and drugs and stuff I am sure it exists but is certainly not noticable. The streets are clean and kids play in the street and bike/walk to school. It's not problem free but nowhere near the UK. Cyclones? Lets hope not, but the housing is built to withstand them, the last one was in 1979 and they are well prepared for it. Tons of places to eat out, all really local. As for attractions well you are slap bang in the middle of a wold heritage marine reserve between Carins and the Whitsunday islands so there are a few things to see!

There are 2 great big regional hospitals here as well as a FE college and the Jame Cook University which is well regarded. The Sun bus is a public transport system which quite unlike most of Oz is comprehensive and wide ranging. No major creepy crawlies, a few cochroaches, toads and a huge grasshopper.

As for the weather it's tropical and the locals moan continually about it. It's lovely in the morning and evening, during the midday the sun is strong but there is always a breeze blowing so it feels comfortable. Xmas onward has been hot and sticky we are told but after the 3 mth summer the rest of the year is nice.

In a few words!

Normal town, easy to settle, no traffic problems, tropical climate hot and sticky for 3 month, nice people, plenty of work potential, well kept, stunning coatline, laid back, excellent local facilities.

Would we go home - sod that!

Rob

CPW

Well, there you have it from someone (Rabc) who's actually moved there.

Personally I would find the humidity and the remoteness distressing (especially the humidity), but that's just me.

On the plus side Townsville is certainly much more of a 'real' business and working place than Cairns (whose existence is largely predicated on the tourist industry). And being big (relatively speaking) and remote, Townsville has facilities out of proportion to its size - shops, other services, educational facilities, and so on.

kerrie/wayne

hi ,we have to agree with rob we are due to move there in june and Townsville is a really nice place and fab for kids.
a big thumbs up from us

Bix

Townsville is like Sydney....people seem to either love it dearly or hate it with a vengance.

I know people both thro BE and thro my work who live there and love the place.
Equally I know several people who left there saying it is an arid, dusty, stinking hot cesspit.

The impression I get is that it is not a glamorous place but a slow moving workers town. A port serving the mines. Big military and naval base I believe.

In comparison Cairns is alive due to the tourist industry and probably has much more going for it in terms of things to see and do.

I love Cairns and the surrounding region as it offers so much easily accessible diversity but if I had to move to Townsville with work I would be happy to do so. Can't be fairer than that.

If I had to choose between them though I would pick Cairns. You should consider it too as it does offer everything you mentioned but much more besides.

Rabc

You are right, some love it and some hate it. It's funny, we spend some time a couple of years ago in Cairns and while we had a great time and loved the place (we made the 3 hr drive north a couple of month ago to revisit) we would not live there. The main reason was that we felt is was to superficial and had no real substance. All seafront if you like. Great to visit but not for us in the long term but that was only our opinion.

At the time we had bearly heard of Townsville. We only came here because we both got good jobs here before we left the UK. We arrived with totally open minds and there are bad bits as well as good. The heat is an issue but not that bigger one. We come from Kent and walked stright into summer and to be honest, yes it's hot some days but not unbearably so. It's no hotter here than anywhere else in the far north, in fact is often cooler than Brisbane. The breeze makes it mch more comfortable the same as it does in Carins.

The Strand and the City has as good a vibrant night life as anywhere I have been but the further away you get the slower things become. Facilities, schools, shopping etc are all excellent.

A word of advice, if you have a trade move here now and make your fortune. There is a massive boom going on and nobody to build or service it!

The barracks are situated on the edge of the town and I understand that very few people live there, most rent properties in the community (the same as the rest of us) and you very rarely see military types (except when you get treated to jet fighter air displays over the airport whre they land)

The best thing to do is visit them both, we are only a 3hr drive or a 1hr flight away! Both have their good points and both have their bad ones. we prefer Townsville but agree that if work took us to Carins we wouldnt complain too much

Hope this helps, if you need any specific info, drop me a line

Rob

glennandkate

Thank you all for your comments - We have had a few agencies contact us in the last few days regarding the work situation in Townsville and it sounds like we would be able to get work pretty easy, so i think thats it - Townsville here we come. And at the end of the day if we get there and really dont like it we can move...I think if you have had to start all over once you can do it twice
Rabc where in Kent do you come from - we live in Gillingham so as you will understand it really wouldnt matter where we moved in Australia as it would be better than here!!!

Thank you all again
Katie

Rabc

We are from Dartford and I worked in Romford. This is bloody paradise! You should be able to get work here easily. Keep in touch as the start of an Expats meet is underway!

Good luck!

Rob

lin&mick

Great posts everyone. We have just had an offer on our house and are heading to Cairns as soon as everything is finalised, having never been there (or to Australia for that matter). Hubby is an electrician and we have friends there (another spark) who say that there is plenty of work? However, you are selling me Townsville. We have 2 children (2 yrs and 7 months) so obviously things like hospitals, kindy etc are important.........what do you think? By the way Rob we used to live in Romford (near the dog track), where did you work?

Linda.

Rabc

Hi Linda, I used to work for Havering Council in Mercury Gardens. Living in dartford meant communiting over the bridge and the Dartford Tunnel every day and I dont miss it at all! Townsville is growing at an incredible rate and tradespeople are very very sought after mainly because most of them are building houses leaving only a few for anythings else. It seems like a licence to print money. We cannot get a sparks to put an outside socket on the wall for any price, they are just to busy!

Townsville has 2 hospitals the main one is brand new and doesnt suffer from the Dr shortages of other N. Quensland regions, plenty of good schools and plenty of nursery places. There are many more facilities around here than Cairns although not a many touristy things to do and yes, there are miles of sandy beaches

Best of luck

Rob

lin&mick

Thanks for the info Rob, plan to show hubby when he gets home. Hopefully, we can take a trip there - thats the beauty of never having been, we have no expectations but obviously work is a high priority.

Linda.

Rabc

No problem, if you need anything specific let me know

Rob