Me and oh cannot make the decision between the two, been to both , but not lived there , am a caprenter have kids ranging from 15 down to 6 and looked up schools in T ownsville around the strand , catholic ones seem or look better.Cairns seems a little tacky in parts set out for holiday makers,but l0ved the kuranda markets and port douglas drive , the kids liked the water park in townsville ,and it didnt seem so busy nor touristy but need to either toss a coin, or go where I get work , we are looking to move july next year, all visas done .Any advise or help appreciated , thankyou

We live in Cairns & not yet been to Townsville but OH will be going there for work so I guess I'll be seeing it very soon!
I would really think about where you are most likely to get work tbh & I would imagine that there would be more opportunities in Townsville as it is bigger but then again, depends what you do!
There are some lovely suburbs in/around Cairns that are not touristy at all & there are some good schools & plenty of sports clubs & activities for kids & adults.
If you do a search on either Cairns or Townsville, there are some very good threads about both. (Have been doing that myself this weekend!) Also, Tripawaymars did a really good update on Cairns which you can find here -
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t=tripawaymars

Thankyou , looked up that great post cairns is swinging it so far for us ,Fitzroy Island looks superb ........will keep checking posts for info , any idea on schools? in cairns as got two little ones and two big ones 15,13 10 , and 6

Very much depends on what suburbs you are interested in as many of the stateschools have quite strict catchment areas unless they are especially talented (sport or academic). We live in Redlynch & both boys (15 & 10) go to Redlynch State College which we are very happy with. The primary school in Freshwater has a very good name too. Cairns State High has a very good name & if you contact Wardy she can tell you about that as her boys go there. She also lives in redlynch.
There are some very good private schools also. St. Andrews Catholic school in Redlynch, Peace Lutheran College Freshwater, Trinity Anglican School to name a few.
I would avoid Smithfield High though.
If you are thinking of living at one of the Northern beaches, the main consideration would be travel time for your two high school kids

If you have a search for posts by Bix you should come up with some good posts about the suburbs but you may have to go back a year or so. I'll have a quick look too & will post a link if I find it.

Here you go!
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...&highlight=bix

As Sallly suggetsed use the search function for both Townsville and Cairns and you'll find lots of threads on both places.
Plenty of reading for you there.

In very crude terms the guts of each city is:
Townsville. Dry tropics. Industrial city and military base.
Cairns. Wet tropics. Cosmopolitan tourist city.

Here's some photos as a taster:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=paradise

Look for threads by DrDan who has done some photos of the TV area.

Excellent information guys, ref work schools etc, got our mind set on redlynch now, just worried bout work no , then no place to live etc!! ..help

There's a few dodgy people in Redlynch

OI!!!!! Bix isn't too bad once you get to know him

Who mentioned Bix?

You must be thinking of wardy or windog then!

Some areas are more dodgy than others

I think you're proving my post without me doing anything Must be a nice area

You are a very naughty moderator

Moi? As if