Mark,
Thankyou very much, you've been immensely helpful. What little I already knew meshes accurately with your description; at the same time you've added much greater depth to my understanding.
Just an aside - do you think having a car up there is useful, particularly for weekends and social activities? I live in Sydney so I think it's a 6 hour drive, but if having a car up there isn't particularly useful, I'm much happier to fly.
Lastly, would you be open to elaborating why you found it wasn't for you, and purely out of interest, what you're thinking of doing now?