all 9 comments

[–]1mor4throad 8 points9 points  (5 children)


Hey, been a while since I lived there but hope this helps

1 - Any Medical degree you take is sure to take you anywhere you want to go. Friends of mine have done courses there and are now both quite up the food chain in both Cairns and Townsville.

2 - Off campus isn't as expensive to my knowledge but be prepared to fall into a trap of not being on site. If you live in a share house, it's up to you to maintain a good study structure. On campus isn't too much different but at least you're there and amongst it. Really, if you can afford it, live on site.

3 - Townsville is Awesome, you will hear a lot of people say otherwise but whatever you want to make of it, it's there for you. There's a gluttony of sports clubs and social events to choose from. As you're already at Uni there, they have a mad amount of stuff to choose from. But if you want to get away there's rainforests, tropical retreats, beaches, Magnetic Island (my favourite place in the world), Mt Elliot and Rollingstone are great places to check out if you organise a crew and a car. There's more but be assured there's stuff to do. The nightclubs suck but there' plenty of cool bars and venues to check out. My recommendation is to steer clear of Flinders st. The brewery is Out of this world and definitely worth checking out, even if you're there only for a short time.

4 - If you don't have access to a/c, then you will want to buy a portable unit. All dorms are air-conditioned and most houses/rentals are air-conditioned too but play it by ear. If you don't like the heat, fair warning then, it does get very hot.

That's when you go to the beach though ;)

If you need more info, let me know.

[–]frickendevil 5 points6 points  (3 children)


+1 for the brewery, even though it is on flinders street.

[–]1mor4throad 1 point2 points  (2 children)


I know, I know. But if viewed as a standalone establishment, it's not to be ignored.

I've gotta say, I was up for the V8's just before and decided to have a drink at The Exchange just to see what it turned into. Aside from the strippers upstairs and the topless barmaid aspect, they really turned it into a nice bar. I really couldn't stop saying how good it looked compared to the hole it used to be.

[–]frickendevil 2 points3 points  (1 child)


I loved that hole...

[–]1mor4throad 1 point2 points  (0 children)


Me too man, me too. It's time to let go though, to move on. It's a different world, a different time. The kids won't get it. But one day it'll happen to them too. Then we'll light up a can and remember what it used to be and think about how we can make the good times live on.

[–]eh616[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)


Thanks for this, helps a lot!

[–]twistedude 4 points5 points  (1 child)


1 - I know a fair few people who have completed JCU's med program, and by all accounts it's a world-class medical degree with all the trimmings you get with a university like UQ or Griffith. There are doctors from JCU who are now practicing all over the world, and by my understanding differs little from most Australian medical degrees in core content.

2 - If you're unfamiliar with the city and don't have friends in Townsville I would recommend you take up on-campus accommodation for at least your first semester. Living off campus is considerably cheaper, and there are a range of modern suburbs and home styles for rent in the suburbs surrounding the university, but ultimately the colleges offer a certain assurance in the fact that you'll have somewhere to stay and eat as soon as you arrive. The university is also well linked to the bus system so if you don't have a car it's easier to get around town from the colleges than the suburbs.

As for the actual college you select, there is a variety available, some modern, some not so. Most are air-conditioned but some have shared bathrooms, others have private bathrooms, etc. Unfortunately there's always a bit of a trade off with most colleges.

Eg. 'Western Courts' is cheaper and has private bathrooms, but as a result of the closure of the Western Halls building 6 years ago is actually just a series of demountable buildings tacked together on the old basketball courts.

3 - As a university student you'll find no shortage of activities. The JCU campus has its own club/pub, coffee shops, cafes etc. The campus is a 5 minute bus ride from the city's largest shopping center and a 20 minute bus ride from the CBD.

The CBD has a bustling relaxed cafe culture by day, and is in the middle of a renaissance of sorts. At one end of town there is a club strip, there's about a a dozen or more pubs, clubs, bars in a 700m stretch of the city. Busses regularly run between the university and the CBD until the early hours of the morning on Friday and Saturday nights. Dotted around the CBD there's also live music venues, performance arts theatres and a cinema.

Near the city you'll find 'The Strand', the cities major beachfront area, Dotted with a few nice cafes, it's a hot spot for those who want to get out and go for a walk or a swim, or even have a nice barbecue. Palmer Street, across the creek from the CBD has a bustling night life with dozens of restaurants and upmarket pubs and bars that are filled until late with patrons.

Near the city there is a ferry terminal which links with Magnetic and Palm Islands. Whilst you're probably not interested in Palm Island, Magnetic Island has a relaxed party culture. You'll regularly find European tourists lining the beaches tanning, and uni students enjoying beers or margaritas at one of the many beachfront bars. There's regular parties at lots of the resorts occasionally featuring world class DJs. On Magnetic Island there's also opportunities for bush walking, rock climbing and a vast variety of water sports.

On top of all of that there's also heaps of sport teams and local organizations dedicated to any and every interest you could think of, many of which have close ties to the university and you'll be introduced to early on in your time in Townsville

There's heaps of great other places nearby as well . I know lots of people who regularly do day trips to the north where there are beautiful swimming holes, magnificent waterfalls and ancient rainforests.

4 - Probably. I certainly know lots of people who don't use air-conditioners, but in most cases they've been here 20+ years and have acclimatised. I would recommend having a dehumidifier at the very least, but an air-conditioner will both dehumidify and cool. The humidity is the hardest thing to get used to, in particular in a good wet season when 2 months of the year will be 35 degrees plus and 70-80% humidity

Other things to be aware of:

Cyclones: If you've not lived North of Brisbane you'll have to get used to the regular threat of cyclones from year to year. We tend to not notice it too much ourselves, but having known people from Brisbane and Sydney who moved here, it is a bit confronting that sometimes once or twice a year you have to prepare yourself for the fact that you could end up having your stuff blown away if a cyclone turns in the wrong direction. In reality, it's rarely much to be concerned about. In the last 20 years there have only been two indirect hits of Townsville that have done damage, both caused only minor property damage, no loss of life in Townsville and most people had power back within 8 days in both cases.

The Big Wet: We haven't got monsoonal rains in a few years here, but most wet seasons well have a big monsoon which causes flash flooding and river flooding for a few days. Most suburbs can handle these rains; streets fill and overflow but are designed to channel water away. But the highways often flood leaving us, and nearby towns isolated for a few days. What that means is travel is generally restricted to air-travel as road and rail lines are underwater. Certain types of food often run out in supermarkets and mail is delayed while trucks wait for flooded rivers to drop. Nothing more than a minor inconvenience, but nonetheless, it's important anybody looking at moving up here understands that it does occur.

Edit: formatting

P.S: Sorry for the short thesis

TL;DR: JCU Med is great, live on college at first, Townsville is awesome, you'll probably want air-con.

[–]eh616[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)


Thank you for commenting! And no worries about the length, the more information I can get the happier I will be haha

[–]Australian_Psycho 1 point2 points  (0 children)


1mor4throad is pretty spot on, but I think I can elaborate more on Q1.

Yes, there is a big focus on tropical/rural/remote/Indigenous health but that's not all. Being a relatively young med school, we don't have that sort of prestige that others have, but I honestly believe that JCU has a great medical curriculum that could rival other universities.

From med 1, you're introduced to a clinical environment starting with basic skills such as history taking and vital signs as well as placements in different areas of medicine (in 1st year its a GP placement and a two week elective of your choice). JCU grads are actually praised for their amount of knowledge, clinically wise and I think that this exposure to a clinical settings is definitely the reason.

So what im incoherently trying to say it, yes. This is definitely a medical degree that will allow you to work in an inner city area, but it also will give you the skills to work in a rural/limited area if you choose to. I'm thinking about doing emergency medicine, especially internationally, and I'm pretty glad that I'm going to be taught the skills I need.

Sorry this is pretty shit, I am so exhausted (from not studying all day :P )and I have 8am lectures tomorrow. If you do have any more questions, feel free to PM me :)