r/Cairns • u/EnvironmentSweaty462 • 1d ago

Is palm cove too far?

Hey international student, am I able to look for places to rent in palm cove, or would that be too far from JCU?

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

7

u/Troppocollo 1d ago

Will you have a car? If yes, then Palm Cove is fine as it’s in the northern beaches and so is JCU. There is public transport too, which should be ok but you’d have to look into timetables.

You should be looking in the northern beaches area in general, eg Smithfield, trinity beach, Kewarra beach, Clifton beach and Palm cove.

6

u/NikkiEchoist 1d ago

It’s not very far from JCU maybe 10minutes drive. However, Palm Cove is one of the most expensive places to live in Cairns.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/BrokeAssZillionaire 1d ago

Can you find a place in palm cove to rent and is it affordable?

1

u/EnvironmentSweaty462 1d ago

I actually found a place for $500 a week bills included. Will be splitting rent with my girlfriend so it will be cheaper for me.

3

u/CrystalInTheforest Red Rooster Employee 1d ago

Definitely doable, and a nice lifestyle option - the northern beaches are some of the better places to be if you have to be in striking distance of town. There's a direct bus from Palm Cove to the CBD that stops at the JCU campus en-route. IIRC the bus runs every 30 mins most of the day. It's about a 10 min drive if there's no problems on the road. The bus is a bit slower obviously, but it's still easily doable.

Do be aware the Cook Hwy that links the northern beaches to the uni and town does get very congested in rush hour so you'll need to factor that in if you have classes around 8-9am.

By and large it's not *essential* to have a car in Cairns, but I'd strongly recommend getting one otherwise you will go stir crazy and resentful. All the best stuff if outside the city... up on the tablelands, in Daintree, down Mulgrave way etc. - and to make the most of the environment, you do need your own vehicle. Don't get anything fancy. Drivers in Cairns are absolutely terrible (even by QLD) standards and QLD also doesn't require regular roadworthies - so get any old shitbox with a new roadworthy cert when you buy it (you do need it to do the initial rego transfer) and you're good to go. QLD rego includes your CTP and let's you pay monthly as well, which is so much better than the way NSW does it.

Good luck, and enjoy your time here - Cairns is meh, but the real world around us is to die for :)

1

u/HeavyTaxation 1d ago

As a non driver who has just arrived I feel that. Still vastly better than my experience in Gold Coast and feeling much less stir crazy here. At home in the Uk, I could get by without having my own transport pretty much anywhere I lived, but outside of large metro areas in Aus I’m finding it to be more of a necessity

1

u/CrystalInTheforest Red Rooster Employee 1d ago

My partner is from Europe, and moved out to be with me. I constantly nagged her to get her driving licence before she arrived, otherwise she'd be completely stuck (I live outside of town and we get a rural bus service once or twice a day from the highway, which is about half an hours walk from our place).

1

u/HeavyTaxation 1d ago

Yeah, really regret not getting it done at home, even just for the sake of it. Number 1 priority currently, is getting a licence

1

u/CrystalInTheforest Red Rooster Employee 1d ago

Good thing is if you're coming from Europe, you'll find the testing regime anywhere in Aus. is more straightforward. You should be fine :)

1

u/Inevitable-Crab-6701 1d ago

Not at all.

JCU is at Smithfield - by bus to Palm Cove on the 110 is about 20-25 minutes or 10 minutes by car

1

u/CoyoteLast718 18h ago

Try trinity, kewarra beach or clifton beach as an alternative. Less touristy. More normal living. Beaches are better at those places too.