Hey guys,
currently tossing up between Townsville or Brisbane to live!
I want to go to uni to study marine biology or marine science.
Currently I'm living in Gladstone QLD and planned on moving to Brisbane for university but for what I want to study, I've heard James Cook Uni offers a great courses and knowledge!
Anyone here live in Townsville - how is it as a place to live? i.e. entertainment, outdoors, the people, weather? how do you compare it to Brisbane?
Thanks for any help! :)
Townsville you've got cyclone season to deal with. I just asked a mate in the Army who's been posted to both locations and he said he'd choose Brisbane out of those two options.
Unless you want Bl** J*b from Debbie….
I thought JCU was one of the best school for marine biology, because of great barrier reef.
That's the "propaganda" I heard when I was looking for uni.
A school friend studied marine bio at JCU and raved about it. Mind you, this was 15 years ago…He was able to get a job with Fisheries NSW that he desired at the end.
Yeah, I think it's a prestigeous place for marine biology. I heard that people come from other countries to study as well.
I said propaganda because it was from those people who came to high school to talk about university stuff.
There has not been a direct cyclone hit in FNQ in many years, the homes built in past 2 decades are built to cyclonic conditions, you will need to use aircon in summer for 4 months but can walk around in shorts year round.
Just to clarify - Townsville is NQ, anything from Cardwell above is FNQ.
Grew up in Townsville, now living in Brisbane (close to the city/working in the city).
JCU is excellent and up there with the best for environmental sciences and medical sciences (human and animal). If you weren't studying any of these I wouldn't recommend it as those are their big money spinners and most other fields are treated as second rate.
Townsville has some beautiful surrounds for the outdoorsy types. Rainforests, waterfalls, bush, Maggie, the reef, all at its doorstep. If you're the beach type the Strand is average, but better than Brisbane in that you can actually swim there (mind the crocs/stingers). The beaches over on Maggie can be nice and the Whitsundays aren't too far away. Surfing is out of the question. Brisbane has the coasts and out west is nice too.
For entertainment Brisbane is a no brainer for me personally. The number of local and international acts from all genres that visit, festivals (music and cultural), nightlife, food, shopping, etc are all leagues ahead of Townsville. When I go him it's difficult to figure out with mates what we're going to do, as there isn't much happening at night. The nightclub district is overrun by bogans and army (not mutually exclusive), and unlike Brisbane it's harder to find a place that caters to specific types of people.
Townsville weather is beautiful, if you're from Gladstone you're used to some heat anyway. Having said that, being acclimatised to Brisbane now I hate the heat whenever I go home and start sweating as soon as I'm out of the shower. Brisbane is a bit depressing during winter and it rains a lot in summer. The storms in Brisbane are nice though, don't get too many in Townsville.
Townsville you should have a lower cost of living based on rent/mortgage alone. However some goods and services attract a regional premium.
I studied Science in Brisbane and one thing I think benefits your study is the multiple universities in the one area. If you start at one you can always transfer to another if you feel another program would suit, or is perhaps of a higher calibre. Also, Townsville has the great outdoors but it doesn't compare to the fun you can have living in the city! The sunny and gold coast are close by if you want to get down to the water.
How big a boat do you have?
Really though - the first thing you should look at is which uni offers the best course for what you are after/interested. The second is then job prospects once you complete your degree. If you are going to have to move in the end then you should really go for the uni that is going to offer you what you want, but if you might end up doing uni and then getting a job after you may as well go there