Thom

Nowra is a great town. It is situated in a stunning part of the world, and the township itself, while not bustling, has all the facilities you could need or want at any stage of life. Nowra CBD has beautiful old homes, leafy streets, and friendly residents, particularly on the western side of the highway (Plunkett, Junction, Worrigee, Osborne, and Shoalhaven Streets are particularly nice).

I lived in the Inner West and Eastern Suburbs of Sydney for 10 years after growing up in the suburban areas around Nowra. I think the only bit of advice I would want to give someone think of moving to Nowra is to be ready for the change. Nowra is not a secret, you aren't going to discover that there's a place just like Sydney but less than half the price, it's different. If you're ready for that there is every chance you will love Nowra and live here for many years, as most residents do.

I also feel like Nowra, and the Shoalhaven more broadly, is on the cusp of change. It's getting to the point now where people aren't just moving here to retire and more or less fade away here, but young people are moving in, probably resulting from a generational realisation that Sydney, for all its facilities and 'culture', is a bit of a dump. The same could be said for Wollongong which offers neither the fully convenient and 'happening' lifestyle of a city nor the slow-pace or affordability of a small town. To me it's just not worth paying top dollar to live in no-man's-land. I think the notion that Nowra has fallen behind relies on the supposition that other places, like Wollongong and Shellharbour, are moving in the right direction. They may be newer and bigger but both demand a higher price tag without delivering much, and both have an ordinary aesthetic at best, with Shellharbour being a clone village and Wollongong looking like a crummy version of Canberra by the sea.

I honestly think Nowra is a great place to live, better than many regional towns, and I often have a hard time remembering why I ever left. If you can get yourself a good job there, then go for it. Just be ready for your life to look different (probably better).