WHY CAIRNS
Why we send people to Cairns
Because we live here, and because the maths is better than Sydney's.
Cairns is a city of about 155,000 in tropical north Queensland, between the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree rainforest. It is where we landed in 2001 and never left.
| Cairns | Sydney | |
|---|---|---|
| A room in a share house | AUD 250-300 / week | AUD 400+ / week |
| Getting to class | Walk or cycle | An hour on public transport |
| Casual work | Tourism, hospitality, kitchens — year round, peaking April-October | More jobs, far more competition |
| Winter | 26 °C | 12 °C |
Cairns rents as published by ABS; Sydney is an indicative market figure.
The honest version: Cairns is small. If you want a city of five million and a nightclub on every corner, go to Melbourne. If you want to save money, speak English all day because there are fewer people from your country, and be able to knock on our door when something goes wrong — Cairns wins.
Your first week
- We pick you up at the airport. Whatever time you land, however delayed you are.
- You sleep somewhere we have already checked. Share house or homestay, arranged before you flew.
- Bank account, TFN, SIM card. Day two, with someone who has done it a thousand times.
- The city. Where the cheap supermarket is, which bus, where students actually go.
- Your first job. Where to hand the CV in and which employers we would not send our own kids to.
Talk it through with us. It costs nothing.
Write or call. We will go through the course, the dates, the budget and the visa with you — and tell you straight if it does not add up in your case.