Moving to Coonabarabran?

Hi, I currently living near Armidale (40km SE near Styx River State Forest/Oxley Wild Rivers - Wollomombi) and moved here from town (Armidale) mostly for the space and the beautiful landscape. From Sydney originally, I've also lived in Melbourne and did a very short stint in Darwin (which was so unimaginably expensive! Main reason I didn't make it long term!)

While I enjoy Wollomombi and love living here, employment is fairly limited. I am a nurse but still have to go to Armidale for work - Armidale itself, whilst friendlier and nicer than Sydney - is still full of all the negative extremes in populations: Bogans and Wankers. It seems most of the people I get along with are those who live in the surrounding towns (here, Hillgrove, Uralla, Invergowrie, Arding and my favorite of all - Walcha. Never met someone from Walcha I didn't get along with. Don't know what that says about me, however...:P)

So I've been looking for somewhere to move to in the next 6-12 months. I've considered Walcha and Dorrigo or Ebor, however I had a flash recently - Coonabarabran. Not only does it seem to have alot of the things I'm looking for - proximity to national parks/state forests - and the Warrumbungles is stunning - I enjoy the mountainous backdrop, affordable housing, friendly community etc - and Mum lived there when she was a kid (as did her mum and so on..) and recalls the town with such fondness, that, at the very least, I want to visit! But she loved it, has never said anything bad about it (unlike Walgett, where she was born...:P). All of these things got me thinking and seriously considering Coonabarabran for my next move. As such, I'd love and really appreciate a bit of input from locals or anyone who has lived or even visited the town. Whats it like these days? Are non locals welcome in town? (I also spent a year in Bathurst - they were rather hostile with outsiders, although I think the wankers that floated in on race weekend, and semi-permanent drunken students were the cause of such a feeling..) How hard is it find employment there? I know everyone says towns are screaming out for nurses, but the sad fact is, even though a multitude of places need medical staff, the funding to employ them is often non existent. Just wondering what the hospital was like there?

The last hurdle I have (which is a problem no matter where I live...) is that I have three dogs - I live on a few acres now, so it isn't much of an issue here, but this rental was hard to find! How hard is it to secure rentals just out of town on a small bit of land with dogs? When I finally settle down, I'd also be looking at getting a horse as well - but as I need to settle down first :)

Any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated! Thanks :)