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Cairns weather for interstate students

vincent168

Stimodont
For people who live in other states, how difficult would it be to handle the humid weather in Cairns? How long does it take to adapt?
 

Havox

Sword and Martini Guy!
Emeritus Staff
Apparently Cairns weather is different to Townsville by a significant enough margin to warrant discussion. Thread reopened I guess.
 
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Benjamin

ICU Reg (JCU)
Emeritus Staff
Okaaaay, so I asked for this thread to be re-opened because Townsville and Cairns are slightly/very different. In short, Townsville is dry and hot whereas Cairns is humid and hot - Cairns is about twice as bad because of this. It feels like you're sweating on the inside sometimes... hence for anyaccomodation that you get here I would HIGHLY recommend making sure it has air-conditioning. In Townsville the heat can be overcome by turning on a heap of fans and hiding in the shade, in Cairns the heat will follow you.

Something else that's good about JCU in Cairns though is that for one there's a good pool across the road, and regardless of where you are there's somewhere good to swim within about 5-10 minutes drive (beaches, crystal cascades, Ross and Locke, Stoney Creek) . That and the fact that the heat usually only sticks around until about the middle of March and then starts coming back around the middle of October mean it's pretty easy to deal with if you're smart about it - obviously don't go for a run in the middle of the day, is what I'm saying. Basically, if you're staying in Cairns just for the academic year then you'll avoid the majority of it.

Some people will probably say that Cairns is quite bearable without A/C but personally, after having lived here for 17 years, I'd say they're insane and probably just don't know any better. As for adapting, you never really get used to it in the sense that you can walk out in 30 degrees and 80% humidity and be like "What a nice cool day this is" but you'll learn to deal with it in other ways (clothing choices, finding airconditioned places etc.) within about 30 seconds of arriving.

N.B. This isn't to say that Cairns is unbearably hot, because it isn't. It's just a lot more comfortable with air-conditioning :)
 

vincent168

Stimodont
Thanks for being so honest about it :)

Yep, I would only be there for the academic year if I do go there. I've been to Cairns for a holiday it is quite insane to me. At the time I did make a mental note "never go to hot humid places for holidays" because that just ruined it for me. But yeah, as long as its comfortable with A/C it would mean that my studies won't be affected by it, which is my main concern.
 

Benjamin

ICU Reg (JCU)
Emeritus Staff
It's an absolutely beautiful place to live - the only real problems I've ever found with it being the jellyfish and lack of waves. If you do move up here you'll find pretty quickly that your lifestyle will change to suit the heat and it really won't be that bad at all. Most accomodation up here as well will already have air conditioners, mostly beause the majority of places here have A/C and so noone rents out places if they don't have it. It's kind of a standard up here, is what I'm saying.
 

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