Visit the Great Barrier Reef Go for a snorkel or scuba dive Dive the 'Yongala' Wreck Get your PADI scuba diving certification Visit Paluma Rainforest World-Heritage Listed Rainforest One hour drive from Townsville Explore the many bush-walking tracks Visit Outback Queensland Experience the 'real' Australia Two hours drive from Townsville Meet a local and enjoy a friendly Queensland welcome

Living in Townsville

Townsville is a coastal city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. It is in the dry tropics region of Queensland, next to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, World-heritage listed Rainforest, Outback Queensland, and Tropical Islands . Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2015 population estimate of 180,333. Popular attractions include "The Strand", a long tropical beach and garden strip; Riverway, a riverfront parkland attraction located on the banks of Ross River; Reef HQ, a large tropical aquarium holding many of the Great Barrier Reef's native flora and fauna; the Museum of Tropical Queensland, built around a display of relics from the sunken British warship HMS Pandora; Castle Hill, the most prominent landmark of the area and a popular fitness destination; The Townsville Sports Reserve; and Magnetic Island, a large neighbouring island, the vast majority of which is national park.
Visit the Strand
Visit Magnetic Island
Outback Queensland

Because we have amazing weather in Townsville, a lot of people take advantage of an outdoor lifestyle.

There are lots of options for adventurous people in Townsville including bush-walking, cycling on one of many paths around the city, any type of sport you can imagine (golf, tennis, volleyball, football etc), diving on the Great Barrier Reef, rock climbing, and so on. If you enjoy spending time outdoors in an unpolluted and beautiful environment, then Townsville is a great option for you.

Although Townsville doesn't have the same variety as larger cities like Sydney or Melbourne, we still have three major shopping centres where you can buy anything you should require.

The three shopping centers in Townsville are called: Castletown Shopping Centre, Stockland Shopping Centre, and Willows Shopping Centre. If you search for these shops you can get an idea of the type of shopping available in Townsville.

Townsville has a small, but lively restaurant and nightlife scene

Most of the bars and nightclubs in Townsville are located on Flinders Street East in the heart of the city. Quite often students at TIES meet up together to have a good night out together. We also have a wide selection of restaurants to dine at, with most being in close proximity to the city. You can choose from Korean, Japanese, Italian, Brazillian, Spanish, French, Indian, Malaysian, Chinese and Thai food to name a few.

About Townsville

T ownsville is an amazing place to study English for so many different reasons.

Townsville is located on the coast and TIES is only 15 minutes walk to the beautiful Strand beach, which you can see in the photos on this page. Townsville is best described as a large country town, or a small urban city, which means that you have all of the conveniences of a city, but none of the headaches. We don't have traffic jams in Townsville, for example, but we do have several cinemas, and large shopping centres for you to enjoy. People in Townsville are friendly and helpful, and it is not uncommon for strangers to say hello to each other in the street.

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