Kerasita

We moved to Forster 4 years ago after holidaying here since childhood.

Pros:

Stunning beaches
Nearly endless waterways to explore if you have a boat (although lots of Wallis Lake is very shallow which can be frustrating.
Laid back lifestyle, little traffic, no endless traffic lights.
Public school is quite good, good with bullying etc, good Principal. Quality schools in general.
Great Lakes Campus is, in my opinion, a good school and is turning out some pretty good students.
Most amazing, blue water and ocean views you'll see just about anywhere, teeming with dolphins - just gorgeous.
Nice community spirit (provided people know you....) If one of their own is in trouble, the locals will rally around and help out. If you're new, well, good luck with that.
Beautiful swimming spots.
Big sporting culture - if you're into the whole triathlon, running festival thing, you'll love it.

Cons
Very cliquey - if you move here expecting to make friends in a hurry, think again. Most people here have been hanging out with each other since preschool and the networks and 'groups', which are often glued together with family ties, are very hard to penetrate. People love to gossip and know everyone else's business, probably because it is a small, relatively isolated town. Very high elderly population.
If you're into a healthy lifestyle ie. farmers markets, health food stores, etc, again - this may not be the place for you. There is a farmers' market here once a month and to be honest, it is abysmal and barely qualifies as a farmers market. Very limited produce (unless you live on homemade jams and organic lemons) and very poor attendance - I wouldn't be surprised if its days are numbered. The local Go Vita recently started selling organic produce, which is great, but it is quite expensive and sometimes dodgy. Going by what I see the majority of people put in their trolleys in Coles and Woollies, this is a town without a big population of people who care about their health. Diet Coke and frozen pizza paradise. Not a lot of spiritual/alternative people. The bogan element has increased, I think, even since we've lived here. Relatively high unemployment. Shops and business, at present, are closing left, right and centre which isn't helping with unemployment/bogan migration.
Out of season, or when the weather is bad, there really isn't a lot to do. Once you've explored Port Macquarie, Taree, and perhaps Barrington Tops to the West, you've pretty much covered the day trips available to take. School holidays in winter can be a nightmare because after going to the movies a couple of times or perhaps 10 pin bowling - there's not much else for young kids to do.
No educational facilities - small TAFE in Tuncurry but no university - closest is 1.5 hrs away in Newcastle.
No public hospital. There is a private hospital which is more of a rehab facility than a hospital, although it does have an oncology unit now so if you're unfortunate enough to need cancer treatment, you don't have to go to Taree. However if you have an accident and need emergency treatment, the closest hospital is Manning Base at Taree which is a 40 minute drive on not particularly good roads (see below).
The roads in and out of Forster/Tuncurry are atrocious and are known as some of the worst in NSW. The Lakes Way has claimed several lives in the last few years.
Wharf Street (the main street down near the lake) is slowly dying thanks to greedy landlords who extort their tenants until they close up and leave, basically. Currently there's about 8 empty shops and Council seem to think it's more important to check peoples' backyards for weeds than invest some money into sprucing up the main street with its million year old facades and dangerous and ugly walkway covers. Great Lakes Council, in general, does not have a good reputation for sensible spending of its money. All the money seems to be thrown at aged care and the aging population and none at the younger people that live here.
The other alternative for shopping is Stockland, which is full (well, not that full actually) of boring, generic chain stores such as Miller's and Ice. If you like to shop, Forster is not the place for you. Some nice touristy knick knack shops, though. Wharf St might 'come back' when the economy improves, but at the moment it's looking like a ghost town. Forster thrives in the warmer months but winter is tough on local business owners and many can't deal with the lack of tourism from March to October and high rents.
Restaurants/Eating out is limited. Many places are overpriced and the food is underwhelming. This is fine if you're on a two week holiday, but as a place to live, it can be depressing. There is no good sushi in Forster. NONE. There are NO healthy take away options. Unless you like pies and pizza, eat at home when it comes to a quick bite to eat on the run.
The radio here is T E R R I B L E. Unprofessional, lame announcers, long, unexplained gaps in transmission, no real target demographic (just a mishmash of lots of genres), embarrassingly dreadful ads. It's just bad, bad, bad all round.
Slow internet - ADSL 1.
Crappy TV reception in some areas (like, ours).
Lots of cockroaches. BIG cockroaches.
Crime seems to be increasing, usually perpetrated by the same group of locals. Some areas are no go zones at night. Some of them I wouldn't set foot in during the day, personally.
Housing, considering there is very little work and limited infrastructure, is expensive. And at the moment, is losing value.
Be very sure that the job that you're moving here for is a keeper. If you lose your job, it can be hard to get another one. Very little part time work unless you know people and of the work there is, is badly paid. We're talking mid-nineties hourly rates for admin work, for instance. Why? Because they can and know the locals don't have a lot of choice.