Housing

If your Australian university has dorms then I would suggest to stay there. I met a few people from UQ (University of Queensland) and they said that the dorms are definitely the way to go. You get a chance to meet a lot of people that way. However at Griffith University at the Gold Coast you are somewhat on your own for housing. Jamie and I had to hit the pavement for the first two days we were in Australia. On the first day the Manager of the Harbourside Backpackers drove a bus full of students to the University. Jamie and I and two Norwegian students got a chance to ride around Surfers Paradise and check out apartments with one of the university staff. We were shown apartments in the price range we were looking for and then we just walked around to all the rental agencies we could find.

We found a place right on the Gold Coast Highway called Paradise Towers. It had a slightly obstructed ocean view. It was an older building so the rent was pretty low, which was perfect because we simply used Surfers as a home base for our travels. Jamie and I split the $AUS185 a week. We knew people who had extravagent flats with an aquarium and television mounted into the wall. However our flat was a nice quaint place half an hour to the campus by Surfside Buses and a five minute walk to the beach.

A good place to look on the web for apartments to get an idea is Jasons. Check out http://www.jasons.com.au and click on accomodation.