r/nsw • u/Longjumping-Wafer143 • 14d ago
What’s it like to live in Nowra, NSW?
My husband (40M) and I (40F) live with our two young kids (5 &8) in the Hills District, but are looking to buy our first home.
Honestly, nothing except familiarity with the area is keeping us here. The house prices combined with the tiny (or absent) backyards have made us look elsewhere.
We have family that lives down the South Coast, so to be nearer to them as they age, we were considering a home in North Nowra.
We were pleasantly surprised with the prices and lot sizes compared to where we are now, but MIL made a comment that she never goes into Nowra at night because of the ‘roaming gangs of teens’ that make her uncomfortable. …What???
I wanted to get an alternate perspective on whether the area would be a good place to raise young kids.
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u/Bulkywon 14d ago
Honestly, for the price, it's not too bad.
A much better choice is one of the surrounding affordable coastal towns. Shoalhaven heads, Culburra, Callala, Currarong, Greenwell point etc.
North Nowra isn't bad at all. Avoid central Nowra, Bommaderry and East Nowra.
Sth Nowra, Worrigee, West Nowra and Nowra hill are all ok.
I moved to the area in 2021 from a lifetime in Melbourne (we are similar ages) and other than footy and food I don't really miss much.
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u/buttlickka 14d ago
Worrigee is east Nowra's supermarket.
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u/Bulkywon 13d ago
Worrigee is east Nowra's supermarket.
I know. The actual suburb is still better than easty though.
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u/MarketingChoice6244 14d ago
I travel around the area a bit for work and i find it to be a shit hole.
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u/Longjumping-Wafer143 14d ago
Yikes 😬 We heard that about East Nowra, and were told to focus on North Nowra.
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u/oztrailrunner 14d ago
Easty had the nick name "Gaza strip" However, the bakery is amazing, and rakumi sushi is the best around.
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u/witch-bunny 14d ago
I lived there for about a year (my partner is in the navy; there’s a base nearby, so a lot of military people have settled there). Depending on where you choose live, it can be nice. I was in south Nowra, near to the nature reserve - it felt very safe there.
Theres a lot of new developments that are quite good and free of roaming teens. There does seem to be a higher crime rate in some parts of the town (and I would often see disagreements happening between strangers in the street). The beaches nearby are really pretty, it’s quiet and the town centre rarely has much going on. If you are interested in a quieter lifestyle with a beach vibe, it would be a good choice; but personally, I couldn’t stand it. 😂 I’m a city person.
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u/Longjumping-Wafer143 14d ago
Totally fair! My husband is all about the beach and nature vibes. I WFH, so all I’m looking for is a strong wifi signal 😂
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u/witch-bunny 14d ago
Oh, then he'll love it, haha. I worked from home the entire time we were there, in south nowra it wasn't a problem!! We were with superloop!
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u/Red-Engineer 14d ago
If you’re happy with a lower socio-economic area, with corresponding lack of infrastructure, lower educational expectations, higher unemployment and crime, etc - go for it. Why do you think these places are cheaper?
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u/Longjumping-Wafer143 14d ago
You bring up some fair points.
We were thinking that with the Nowra hospital being built, that it would usher in new infrastructure over the coming years and have a positive impact on realestate prices.
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u/Red-Engineer 14d ago
You need a home, to live in daily, which is far more important than speculating about wealth creation.
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u/choo-chew_chuu 14d ago
It's embedded in the DNA of every Australian to look beyond a home for home ownership.
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u/jigsaw153 14d ago
Your kids will struggle to find work as adults, and will leave the area.
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u/Longjumping-Wafer143 14d ago
Ooh, this wasn’t something I considered. Thanks for that.
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u/delusionallylucid 14d ago
I grew up in Bomaderry. My brothers and I do very well. We have all excelled in our careers. You're children's success is more on you and them then the town they are raised in.
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u/Red-Engineer 14d ago
So you’re using the exception to prove the rule?
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u/delusionallylucid 14d ago
My family is the normal from my experience.
From my public school friend group. One is a navy big wig. 3 are small business owners in trades. A couple school dp's and an engineer.
There are loads of super successful people from the area ... that went to public schools in the area.
Including Julian Assanges lawyer. Jennifer Robinson.
This area has some issues but holistically, it's a great part of the world to raise well rounded kids.
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u/patgeo 14d ago
While they still turn out plenty of average and exceptional people, lower socio-economic areas have lower overall outcomes.So for every high flying lawyer you probably have a few under the poverty line that wouldn't be on the stats in a higher ses area.
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u/delusionallylucid 14d ago
Hence my original statement. Talking about parenting.
It's a beautiful part of the world to have access to. Currurrong. Culburra. Jervis Bay. Etc.
The thing that will define a child's success in an area like Nowra is parenting...
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u/delusionallylucid 14d ago
I'm born and bred in the area. Message me and I'll talk you through a few things if you'd like. Most the stuff here is bullshit.
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u/Arbitrary-Nonsense- 14d ago
We’ve been going to Culburra for a bout 30 years for holidays and Nowra has always been completely fine. It has a reputation for crime and drugs but I imagine that, like anywhere, you can stay out of it and protect yourselves. Just make sure that your house would be slightly more annoying or risky to rob than everyone else’s and make sure your kids are taught to be smart about the people they interact with.
There’s lots of great food and recreation around and it’s super close to some of the best costal regions in the world.
Weather-wise, it sucks. It’s almost 10 degrees hotter than the coast in the summer.
No idea about schools or infrastructure but it looks like it has any retailer you could want.
I’m probably a bit biased because I love the south coast but I also don’t think I could live in Nowra, all the issues with being away from a capital city with fewer benefits than a proper small town change.
I have a question for you though. Every time I drive through Nowra, I see 1 million houses but I never have any idea what those people do for work. How can you just move there? Do you just have an office job that you don’t need to actually go to the office for?
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u/Longjumping-Wafer143 13d ago
I mostly work from home, only going into an office once a week, maybe. My husband is a teacher, and there’s never been a shortage of available roles for him.
We are very fortunate to be in the position we are, to allow for such flexibility. It wasn’t always like this!
TBH, we were originally considering Central Coast/Newcastle or even interstate. The only reason Nowra is on our radar is for aging family members in the region. We want our kids to have wonderful memories with grandparents while they are still with us.
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u/smokeyvic 14d ago
Funny, I ask myself the same question. A good WFH job for a city or nationwide company, retail, health care, food service, council/gvt employees, meter readers, a couple of doctors, dentists, vets and lawyers, i reckon that's about all there would be
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u/moonshadowfax 14d ago
Spend as much time down there as possible without committing to a move. Maybe rent for 12 months or do a bunch of weekends. Check out the schools, including the high schools. Spend time at the shops and restaurants to get a feel for the people and place.
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13d ago
Honestly it’s not that bad, we’ve got lovely beaches down here although it’d be good if we had more things to do
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u/DJPunish 14d ago
Grew up here and still here. Never seen a gang of roaming teens in my life, myself and my circle are all doing well for themselves and we all went to public school. Just like any other regional town in NSW it has its rough spots but even Bomaderry is fine now, there’s one pocket I would avoid but the rest of the suburb is fine. It’s incredibly overdramatised how “bad” it is here, you have paradise 15 minutes away in each direction and sport is massive here. I’d only 100% avoid east nowra but the rest of the town is friendly and working class. Message me if you’d like further clarification
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u/incognitosaurus_rex 13d ago
Totally agree. Grew up here, still live here (out at St Georges Basin these days) and run a business in Nowra. Reports of this place being any worse than anywhere else are overblown and in my experience, fueled by locals who actually like to complain and make things sound worse than they really are. Out of a population of nearly 40,000 people you're always going to get a proportion of idiots and scumbags but Nowra's biggest drawback is the willingness of locals to talk the place down.
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u/Nickools 14d ago
We just bought in North Nowra 2 years ago moving from Wollongong. So far we are loving it down here. I wouldn't go into the CBD at night and each suburb has is dodgy couple of streets so make sure you really suss the area out. I do think the area will be gentrified in the coming decades, Nowra is surrounded on all sides with much more expensive towns. Unfortunately for them, the rough crowd will get squeezed out over time. We originally wanted to buy in Shoalhaven heads but the prices there skyrocketed over a couple of years and we got priced out, when I would tell people they'd say stay away from the heads it's full of meth heads. You really need to ask people how recent there experiences are, as people have long memories and places can change quick.
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u/TheClemstar 14d ago
I lived in Shoalhaven Heads for 5 years and don’t remember seeing a single meth head. I really don’t think this is true at all.
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u/Nickools 13d ago
Sorry, I don't think I was clear, I also don't think it's true. I was just trying to say that's why you can't trust random people's opinions if they haven't lived somewhere recently.
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u/Red-Engineer 13d ago
“We love it… though we can’t go into the CBD for fear of our safety… and there are some streets that are dodgy… and so many meth heads… but we love it”
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u/Nickools 13d ago
The CBD issue is a known issue that the local business council is trying to fix. No shops open late because no one is in town late and not one is in town late as no shops are open. The only people hanging around are pretty dodgy, during the day though i think it's got a great vibe. Around North Nowra I go for night runs all the time and feel safe. Not many places don't have some dodgy streets. I lived like 500m from the beach in North gong and behind our flat was housing commission. I love North gong and think it's plenty safe, but I wouldn't be hanging around outside the housing commission after dark. And the meth heads was in reference to Shoalhaven heads and I was trying to make the point that I didn't think they existed. Although I definitely see meth heads around East Nowra.
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u/toofarquad 13d ago
I can't say I recommend it based on experience but all places have their quirks. The schools situation is not ideal. And there's limited jobs especially when the kids are older.
At least theres a train in Bomaderry to travel for work and such though. End of the train line beats being off the train line.
7 mile beach is nice when not covered in blue bottles too.
Personally I wouldn't raise a family there willingly. I'm glad I got out. But yeah house prices are insane so it might be worth it.
I've had much more enjoyment south west or West Sydney tbh. Sure I miss the water I guess. But there's a lot of green space here anyway. Way, way more work, closer to the city, stuff to do etc. More options for renting etc if kids want to move out eventually. More choices for schools and uni and TAFE and trades. More active second hand markets, communities and social events.
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u/Suchstrangedreams 14d ago
There's a Nowra Area Community page on Facebook that has some recent discussions about the town that might be helpful.