Hi - exactly what UAI did you get? I am from Sydney and A LOT of students do Exercise and Sports Science because the Masters of Physio (MPT)programme at Sydney looks on that rather favourably.
Considering how many people want to do physio, a Dip in Remedial Massage, while helpful is not going to get you in before other students who have high marks in other courses like B.Sc, etc.
I would try to get into any uni course and blitz the marks.
The reason why i asked what UAI you got is because if you were close, the above system would work. If you got like 50 or 60 or even 70, i think you would struggle at uni. I know that marks is not an indication of how good a physio you will be but it sure is a good indication of how you will cope with the uni work.
Physiotherapy at uni is so unrelated to physio in the real world but the bottom line is that you still have to jump thru the hoops. Unfortunately, physio is also a course that requires you to be good at Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and even English (written communication is important). Seeing as though these subjects are your standard school ones, the UAI is indicative of how you will go in these subjects at uni (well i think so anyway!).
I have seen mature aged students struggle badly in the first couple of years because the science load is so high and they often didn't do so much of it at high school or their other course/s etc. But once we got to the "physio" stuff, their maturity and experience was a real advantage for them.
So in summary, i would recommend that you choose wisely and play the game that the physio school wants - that is high marks in higher ed. They say they want at least a credit average but lets face it, if there are 40 places in the MPT and 100 applicants, they will take the top 40 who probably have High Distinction or Distinction averages. The moral of the story is that it is very competitive.
Hope this helps! Don't be discouraged. Rather, write your goals down, map out a path and work hard towards it.
Good luck!