Hi

I am from India currently living in the US. I plan of moving to Australia if luck allows . I have some questions I believe can be answered by the people here, they will be great help to me.

If any of the question is there in a sticky, just say "sticky thread" inline. The thread name will be helpful too.

*I loved the queensland region and my priority is to live and work in or around Cairns. Is there much scope for an IT worker there?

*I work in Redmond,Washington and lots of my friends live in nearby towns like Bothel, Bellevue, Kirkland, Sawammish and drive to office using Freeways. Can you name the nearby towns where the people working in Cairns or Brisbane live and commute hassle free?

[I have few others but this may not be the appropriate thread ]

Sorry mate, Cairns is not known for it's IT. Brisbane perhaps?

If you do a bit of studying Australia's geography and population distribution you'll see that the Cairns region is quite small in population compared to anything about Washington and it is quite distant from major population centres.
There is possibly some IT work but it would be minimal and more of a service nature than system/product development.

The advantage in such a location is that traffic hastles would be minimal and Freeway are also minimal - have a look via Google Earth and you'll get a feel.
Brisbane is a lot different and typical of any major city in regard to transport, thre being a few hastles but again probably minimal compared with the US.

it seems Redmond, the corresponding city in Washington to Cairns in Queensland has a lesser population , so population thing doesnt hold true

You picked up a good point though that Washington is boosted by Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing where as Cairns has tourist attractions and sugarcane , so all IT workers are needed for is to provide good shape to tourist sites

Hmmm, I guess
Palm Cove, Gordonville,Kuranda, Yungaburra,Atherton,Mareeba seems to be the neighbourhoods of Cairns where people can commute to their work places?
Did I miss or add any?

(you said US traffic isnt the standard for aussie traffic; and the worst of US traffic is Silicon Valley California and NY outskirts, I take similar distances
from town as safe distances to commute to and fro)

thanks to Drekker also, btw I prefer Cairns to Brisbane, Brisbane is too south

Shubh, I've lived in Cairns for a year. We decided to move south to the Gold Coast, because Cairns weather is simply way too hot and humid for most of the year. Also, for much of the year swimming in the ocean is not possible due to the stinging box jellyfish threat.

Have you actually visited Queensland? What do you mean Brisbane is too far south??

Hi Skydancer, thanks for reply

You said you lived in Cairns, how was the life there ? A summary would be helpful not only for me but many others in this forum


Why gold coast ? Is the weather better there? It is a tourist zone with great theme parks I heard

I want to stay in the tropics(I lived in Florida for 3 years) and the North to North East of Australia look great for that. Cairns looks great for that and much lively city and Darwin too too too expensive(at least the real estate).
[note SEEMS]


I am planning to visit Queensland but December holiday(my initial plan) seems too expensive thanks to airfares. I will though within 12 months.

Brisbane seems towards mid west of australia so further south

Brisbane still falls within the subtropical part of Australia. Most people find the climate much healthier than up north. The constant heat of Cairns can be draining on body and mind. In the monsoon season Cairns is plagued by mosquitos, and sandflies (biting midges) all year round. Those are the only reasons we left.

By the way, Florida's climate is also subtropical and is more similar to that of south Queensland rather than north. People are walking around in short sleeves and shorts right now here on the Gold Coast, and it's the middle of winter!

that is immensely helpful, thanks for the explanation with reference to Florida

*how is the weather like in Darwin?is it same as cairns?
*can you find salties in Brisbane?

I've never been to Darwin, but you can easily do a search online. I imagine it would be even hotter and more humid than Cairns. Salties, never heard of that. Is it some kind of packaged snack?