Australia - Surfing

To be honest dude, every major city in Australia has pretty incredible surf within an hour.  Gold Coast is good but you're right, it's very touristy and the locals can get a bit territorial.  If you're after warm weather year round then Queensland is the way to go.  Unis to look at would be UQ, QUT, Griffith and maybe Bond.  Another option would be UWA in Perth.  It is an amazing place and good surf but it is the most isolated city in the world.. If you're not too concerned about the weather, and maybe want to ski a bit in winter, you could look at Sydney or Melbourne.  In Sydney you've got Usyd, UTS, UNSW and Macquarie.  Some amazing breaks within an hour from Sydney and the mountains aren't tooooo far away.  The best for both would be Melbourne though.  Only 2 hours to the snow and 1 hour either side and you're at some of the best and most iconic surfing in the world.  Downside would be it can get pretty cold in winter (but probably not relative to Utah!).  Unis in Melbourne to look at would be Melbourne Uni, Monash (my particular uni), RMIT, LaTrobe, Deakin and maybe VU.  All depends on what you want to study I guess, but plenty of options!

hey,

I'm not much of a surfer but alot of my mates are very keen surfers but ill add some info I know.

On of my best mates is a very keen surfer and attends Deakin University in Geelong, Victoria. Geelong is a pretty cool town/city with a very big nightlife during the uni semester due to the large amount of students (had some big uni nights down that way as I had a few mates on res down on Geelong). Its is also only about an hour drive from Melbourne which is handy if you want to check out Melbs.

The good news about Geelong is its only a short drive (within 30 mins) of some wicked surf i.e. Torquay and the famous Bells Beach.

Also there is a Deakin campus in Warrnambool which is right on the beach and has some decent waves, however it is a much smaller town and is about 4 hours drive from Melbourne.

As others have said tho its not all sun and warmth in Melbourne during th spring and it can get chilly, however I wouldnt say that its a negative, the cold is certainly bareable and the beaches are less crowded. Having said that tho if you really want more consistant how good weather in spring maybe look further north in NSW or QLD.

Any Uni in Melbourne would do tho, there a decent surf both sides of the bay so your only ever a Hour and a Half drive from some waves (eg Phillin Island)

Sorry I dont know too much about NSW and QLD universities

Go syd, that way you can
1. Surf breaks at any level
2. Good uni
3. Great nightlife
4. Ski

You can't get all of this anywhere else

deffo agree,  lots of unis to choose from. so many beaches, all offer something slightly different. good night life.

I graduated from the U of U and studied abroad at the Univ. of South Pacific in Suva, Fiji.  Plenty of world class surfing to be had, but its about 99% reef break, don't know how confident you are paddling into that type of wave.

Sorry for the Bump
Not sure if you have made your mind up yet.
But i would defiantly Consider UOW (University of Woolongong)
Slightly Closer to the snow than Sydney, good night life And if you want good surf then it defiantly has you covered.

Try melbourne... has all that and the snow is a lot closer...

Boom. Sydney can't even get near our level.

Sorry for the hectic late bump also but I feel like I should +1 this.

I live in Canberra currently but I grew up in the Gong. UOW is a great uni and the surf around the south coast area is AMAZING. Check out Bellambi, one of my favourite spots when I was in highschool.

But like TJS said, it's slightly closer to the snow and the nightlife is pretty solid too (last time I was there at least). Wollongong can be a bit rough around the edges but most of the time its a pretty top place.

Hope this helps, dude.