Three hundred metres. That is the distance from UniLodge South Bank to Griffith University's South Bank campus, and it is the number the entire building is built around.
Three hundred metres is not a commute. It is a walk you do in four minutes without thinking about it, in the rain, at 8am, twice a day, without ever checking a timetable. In a city where most student accommodation is sold on bus times, that is a categorically different offer — and it is priced accordingly, with indicative rates starting around A$369 a week.
This guide covers what the address gets you, what it costs, and the specific situations where paying the South Bank premium is rational versus where it is simply expensive.
Quick facts
| Detail | UniLodge South Bank |
| Address | 125 Colchester Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101 |
| Indicative rent | From around A$369/week, all bills included |
| Room types | Studio, Studio Twin Share, 2-bedroom apartments, 6-bedroom multi-share apartments |
| Included in rent | Wi-Fi, electricity, water, furniture, air conditioning |
| Griffith University South Bank | 300 metres |
| QUT Gardens Point | 1.3 km — direct walk over the Goodwill Bridge |
| UQ St Lucia | 3.6 km |
| South Bank station | 1–2 minute walk |
| Brisbane CBD | 15-minute walk |
| Parking | A$70/week (4-week minimum) or A$330/month |
The location, and why it is genuinely different
South Bank is the cultural precinct of Brisbane, sitting on the south side of the river directly opposite the CBD. Most Australian cities do not have an equivalent: parklands, a man-made beach, three major cultural institutions and a rail station all inside a few hundred metres.
For a student, that translates into a specific set of daily realities.
Griffith South Bank at 300 metres is the headline. Griffith's Queensland Conservatorium and Queensland College of Art are based here, which makes this building unusually well-suited to music and art students whose schedules involve late rehearsals, studio time and equipment they do not want to carry across the city on a bus.
QUT Gardens Point via the Goodwill Bridge is the second campus story, and it is a nicer number than the 1.3 km suggests. The Goodwill Bridge is a dedicated pedestrian and cycle crossing over the Brisbane River — no traffic, no interchange, straight into the Gardens Point campus past the City Botanic Gardens. It is one of the more pleasant campus walks in any Australian city, and it takes roughly fifteen to twenty minutes on foot or five by bike.
South Bank station is a one to two-minute walk, with direct airport rail connections. That is the practical detail for arrivals, departures and any trip beyond walking range.
The CBD is a fifteen-minute walk, and Queen Street's shopping district about five minutes by bus. Part-time work in the city does not require a commute in any meaningful sense.
UQ St Lucia is 3.6 km. Reachable, but if St Lucia is your campus this is not your building — UniLodge Toowong is roughly eleven minutes by bus and considerably cheaper.
The lifestyle side, priced honestly
South Bank Parklands, Streets Beach, the Gallery of Modern Art, the Queensland Museum and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre are all walkable. Mount Coot-tha Lookout and Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary are easy day trips, and the Gold Coast is about two hours by train.
That is the marketing version. The useful version is that most of it is free. A student in an outer suburb spends money to reach the things a South Bank resident walks past — the parklands, the beach, the free gallery days, the river. Over a year that offsets some of the rent premium, though it would be dishonest to claim it offsets all of it.
The counterweight: South Bank is a tourist and events precinct. It is busy, particularly on weekends and during festival season, and the ambient noise level is higher than a residential suburb. Some students love the constant activity. Others find it wearing by second semester. It is worth visiting on a Saturday evening, not a Tuesday morning, before you commit.
Room types
Four configurations:
- Studio apartments — self-contained, private bathroom and kitchenette
- Studio Twin Share — a studio shared by two people, the cheapest self-contained option
- 2-bedroom apartments — private bedroom, shared living and kitchen with one other person
- 6-bedroom multi-share apartments — private bedroom, shared facilities with five others, the lowest per-person rate
All apartments are furnished and air-conditioned. Air conditioning is not a luxury item in Brisbane — summer humidity here is genuinely difficult, and its inclusion as standard is a meaningful difference from older housing stock in the same suburb.
The A$369 indicative starting rate will correspond to a bed in the six-bedroom multi-share, not a studio. Expect a substantial step up for a self-contained studio. If your budget is anchored to the headline figure, you are pricing the multi-share.
The Studio Twin Share deserves a specific note. It is a genuinely good value option that many students overlook: you get a self-contained apartment with a private bathroom and kitchenette at close to multi-share pricing, with one flatmate instead of five. It only works if you are comfortable sharing a living space with one person — often the right answer for two friends arriving together, and the wrong answer for a stranger pairing. Ask how the property allocates twin shares if you are applying alone.
What the rent covers
Wi-Fi, electricity and water are all covered by the weekly rent, in a furnished, air-conditioned, move-in-ready apartment.
The value of that bundling is easy to underestimate against a private rental in South Brisbane, one of Brisbane's more expensive rental markets. A private one-bedroom at a similar weekly figure would come without furniture, without utilities, without internet, with a four-week bond, and with a twelve-month lease that does not align with your academic year. Our cost of living guide for students in Brisbane breaks down what those unbundled costs actually add to a weekly figure, and the most expensive suburbs in Brisbane puts South Brisbane in context against the rest of the city.
Laundry is charged separately at A$4 per wash or dry — roughly A$8 for a full load washed and dried. Weekly across an academic year, that is a small but real line item.
Facilities
- 24/7 gym, free for residents
- Study rooms across multiple levels
- Communal kitchens, fully equipped
- Games room with pool table and table tennis
- Rooftop Sky Garden with BBQ
- Music room with a piano
- Library and reading room
- Laundry facilities, pay per use
- 400+ bicycle spaces
Two items stand out for this specific building. The music room with a piano is not a generic amenity here — with the Queensland Conservatorium 300 metres away, a practice instrument in your own building has obvious practical value for a cohort of residents.
The library and reading room, separate from the study rooms, is unusual in Brisbane PBSA and matters in a precinct this busy. Having a quiet room that is not your bedroom is what makes living in an active entertainment district workable during exams.
The rooftop Sky Garden is the social centre of the building and, given the South Bank skyline and river position, one of the better rooftop outlooks in the city's student housing.
Security
Electronic swipe-card access, secure building entry, individual bedroom locks and on-site staff.
Individual bedroom locks are the detail worth confirming if you are taking a multi-share apartment — it means your room is private even when the apartment is shared, which is not universal across the sector.
Parking: expensive, and mostly unnecessary
Parking runs A$70 per week with a four-week minimum, or A$330 per month, with limited availability.
That is the highest parking rate across UniLodge's Brisbane buildings — nearly double the A$40 at Park Central — and it reflects inner-city land value rather than a service premium. At A$70 a week, parking adds roughly A$3,000 across a year, or about nineteen percent on top of a A$369 rent.
Against that: your campus is 300 metres away, the train station is a two-minute walk, the CBD is a fifteen-minute walk, and there are 400-plus bike spaces. The number of students who genuinely need a car at this address is small. If you own one and cannot part with it, the honest advice is that a different suburb will serve your budget better.
Who this building suits
Strong fit if:
- You study at Griffith South Bank, particularly at the Conservatorium or College of Art — 300 metres is the entire argument and nothing else in Brisbane matches it
- You are at QUT Gardens Point and would rather walk the Goodwill Bridge than take a bus
- You want to live in the middle of the city's cultural precinct and will actually use it
- You have a CBD part-time job and want to walk to work
- You want a self-contained studio and can fund the step up from the headline rate
Weaker fit if:
- Budget is your binding constraint. At a A$369 indicative start, this is the most expensive of UniLodge's Brisbane buildings, and UniLodge Herston starts around A$160 a week lower.
- UQ St Lucia is your only campus
- You are noise-sensitive and would struggle in a tourist and events precinct
- You own a car and cannot absorb A$70 a week to park it
Before you book
Price the room you want, not the room in the advert. The gap between a six-bed multi-share bed and a studio at this property is the largest single variable in your budget. Get a written quote for your configuration and your exact lease dates.
Check the lease length against your intake. Semester and full-year contracts price differently, and South Bank's rates make a mismatched lease expensive. If your plans are not settled, read how to break a student accommodation contract early in Australia before signing.
Book early for February. South Brisbane is a competitive market and the main intake fills first. Booking student housing before arriving in Australia covers the sequencing, and airport pickup to your student accommodation handles arrival day — relevant here given the direct airport rail line into South Bank station.
Know what kind of agreement you are signing. PBSA agreements differ from residential tenancies in the rights they carry. Student tenant rights in private rentals in Australia sets out the difference, and whether a student visa holder can sign a long-term lease in Australia covers the visa considerations.
Postgraduate students should look at university accommodation options for postgraduates in Australia before defaulting to undergraduate-oriented PBSA — the quiet-study requirements are different and worth weighing.
Frequently asked questions
Where is UniLodge South Bank?
125 Colchester Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101, in the South Bank cultural precinct on the south side of the Brisbane River.
How much is UniLodge South Bank per week?
Indicative rates start from around A$369 per week including Wi-Fi, electricity and water. That figure reflects the cheapest multi-share configuration; studios cost more. Confirm the rate for your room type and dates with the property.
How far is UniLodge South Bank from Griffith University?
Griffith University's South Bank campus is 300 metres away — roughly a four-minute walk.
How do you get to QUT Gardens Point from UniLodge South Bank?
On foot across the Goodwill Bridge, a dedicated pedestrian and cycle crossing over the Brisbane River. The campus is about 1.3 km away, roughly fifteen to twenty minutes' walk or five minutes by bike.
Does UniLodge South Bank have air conditioning?
Yes. Apartments are furnished and air-conditioned as standard, which matters in Brisbane's summer humidity.
How much is parking at UniLodge South Bank?
A$70 per week with a four-week minimum, or A$330 per month, with limited availability. There are also over 400 bicycle spaces.
What room types are available at UniLodge South Bank?
Studio apartments, Studio Twin Share, 2-bedroom apartments and 6-bedroom multi-share apartments.
Bottom line
UniLodge South Bank is the closest thing Brisbane has to a genuine walk-to-campus building for Griffith South Bank and a walk-the-bridge building for QUT Gardens Point. For students at either — and particularly for Conservatorium and art students with late studio hours — the 300 metres is worth paying for, and the on-site music room, library and rooftop make the building more than a location.
For everyone else, it is an expensive postcode. If your campus is elsewhere, you are buying the South Bank lifestyle rather than a commute advantage, and that is a legitimate choice as long as you make it deliberately.
Do not pay A$70 a week to park a car three hundred metres from your lectures and two minutes from a train station.
