IT was the autumn of 2013 in Canberra. It was evening, the air was starting to get that sharp and frigid feel to it, letting you know that winter was coming and it really meant business.

Oh, how that cold could stab right to the core, it made you feel as though you would never be warm again.

I was sitting with a friend, TV playing in the background, scrolling through Facebook, when I came upon a photograph of an old acquaintance from high school. She was having a date with her partner by the beach in Sydney.

Feeling the threat of winter looming, and looking at this golden, sun-soaked image, I was so very jealous of her life- a life by the sea.

I complained at length to my friend on the sofa, and he asked me a simple question: “Why don't you go and live by the sea, then?”

I had no ready answer to that question.  I had not come up with one by the following morning.

That evening I called a mortgage broker to find out what shape my mortgage was in, and I made an appointment to see him the following day.

He was also a real estate agent.  His advice was that the sale of my house was not impossible, and that if I moved somewhere cheap, I could pay off most of the mortgage with the money from the sale of the house in Canberra.

So, I began the search for the perfect town.  I made a matrix of weighted selection criteria.  I included proximity to the ocean.

After living for seven years in Canberra, climate was very important.  I looked at house prices.  Crime rates. Median age. I found data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Bureau of Meteorology.  I asked everyone I knew for advice.

I was determined to move to the best place in Australia.

After two weeks of research, my house was ready to go on the market, and I had given my notice at work. I had narrowed the search down to five towns:  two in Queensland, two in Victoria – and Narooma, NSW.

I started phoning places in the towns.  I called police stations – asking if they got called out often, where to, what for.  I called random businesses, post offices.  After a lengthy process, Narooma was looking to be the best town in Australia.

It was cheaper than the towns in Queensland, and more temperate than the towns in Victoria. So I wanted to check it out.

I came down for a night with a friend, and we arrived in the dark.  We were exhausted, but couldn't help but notice that somewhere around Clyde Mountain, the icy grip of late autumn had let go of us, and we were welcomed by the balmy breath of Narooma's warm winds.

When we woke up the next morning and crossed the bridge, I knew at once that this was the town for me. And possibly the best town in the world.

I fell in love with Narooma instantly, effortlessly, and entirely.  The water in the inlet was a shade of the most impossible blue.

I looked at a few houses, and came back the next weekend to see a couple more.  I found the one for me, a delightful house with a wood heater and a plum tree in the garden.  Best of all, the bank doesn't own very much of it.

Less than three months from the day that my friend asked me why I didn't go and live by the sea, I had sold my house, quit my job, and bought a new house in paradise.

I wanted to share this story so that you could be reminded just how special our town is.  We have the second most temperate climate in the world, after Malta, because of the microclimate formed by our island and our mountains.

In the ocean, the lakes, and the rainforest we have some of the most spectacular birds and fish, and enjoy the company of seals, whales and dolphins.

Yesterday I saw an eagle with a wingspan broader than mine, and a possum disappearing into the forest with a guilty little sprint, carrying an ill-gotten strawberry.

Our town has a population of 8,500 people. Whether we were born here or drawn here, we should consider ourselves 8,500 of the luckiest people in the world.

Lucy Norman

Narooma

Giving transport thanks

I would like to give thanks and praise to the Community transport service that is provided by Eurobodalla Shire Council for the convenience of residents of the shire.

Since I have been less able to get about I have used the service regularly and have nothing but praise for the drivers and the council staff who run the show.

I am sure a lot of Eurobodalla Shire residents are not aware of the services available to them at a very low cost

Trips to the Doctors, shopping trips, group activities, are just a few of the services available.

Medical trips to Bega, Canberra or Nowra are no problem, all at a very low cost. The drivers are all volunteers and very professional, who have undergone strict training and medical examinations.

Any man or woman who would like to be a volunteer driver or helper, should inquire to 4474 1040 or visit councils website www.esc.nsw.gov.au

There are lots of other services available in the Community care services department dealing with mainly health, aging and many others.

Phone 4474 1300 for more information.

I was a volunteer driver 30 years ago, when the service first started and I know how good it feels to help others.

Ken Burke

Narooma  

Reasons to improve The Flat drainage

AFTER Tuesdays deluge (October 14) and again my property going under water, (similar but not as severe as in 2010), I experienced levels of around 20cm in the backyard and 50cm in the front, prompted me to re access and consider is it the volume of water, tidal influence or a drainage problem, or a combination of all three.

On Wednesday I conducted a walk around the flat and observed the severe lack of storm water drains in my and nearby streets.

Starting with my street, Lynch St, I have no storm water drains on my side the low side of the street and only two on the opposite side.

Now I am not an engineer or rocket scientist, but simple science will tell you that water will flow to the lowest point and then starting spreading to the highest.

I observed Tuesday’s flooding from 6am that my side of the street was a good 30cm (one foot) under water before it started spreading to the opposite side of the road.

Those in Lynch and lower side of McMillian Road also have an open canal out the back. Once this canal is full it flows from my back yard to the front!

I have on many occasions complained to council about the canal silting up and the one on the corner of McMillian Road and Barker Parade.

The canals also have a cover mechanism of which never works, or does what it is supposed to do.

No drainage in other streets I observed was the north end western side of McMillian Road (across from Symth Oval), none what so ever in Hyland Avenue and only three in Brice Street two on the eastern side and one on the western which again is the low side.

I know that Tuesday with the rain pelting down at around 6mm or so a minute and the tide an influence that we were going to experience some sort of flooding.

And yes we bought here knowing full well of the weather circumstances.

But surely after the 2010 floods, council would have conducted their assessments or done anything to improve an out dated system!

Sorry ESC you just can’t blame Mother Nature, I’d say all three had a part to play.

Gabe Eichler

Lynch Street, Narooma  

Greens holding balance

There are strong rumours at this end of the shire that some council staff have orchestrated numerous code of conduct complaints against Councillor Milton Leslight, each designed to effect his removal from office.

Your readers may not aware that Clr Leslight is one of the ERA councillors who have fought on behalf of this community for abandonment of the toxic LEP, and removal of the equally toxic “bio-certification” land trading scheme, promoted by the Greens and blindly adopted by our non-ERA councillors.

He is the only councillor so far to stand up against the proposed 25 per cent council rate rise.

For those of us living in low lying areas around Mummuga Lake in Dalmeny, he is the only councillor who has taken up the fight to repeal the interim sea level rise policy and to replace it with a sensible policy that does not decimate the value of coastal property or do further damage to the Eurobodalla economy.

As if the mayor has not done enough to trade off community land rights in order to gain the Greens vote in council, we are now told that he has removed Leslight as chair of the Coastal Management Advisory Committee and replaced him with the Greens councillor, Gabi Harding.

The 6,000 affected ratepayers will be ecstatic to learn that the Greens now have control of the advisory body that will guide the final sea level rise policy and coastal management plan. 

It is obvious that politics is taking precedence over common sense in this dysfunctional council.

With the Greens calling the shots, and the mayor requesting 55 coastal councils in NSW to adopt his latest sea level rise report before it was placed on public exhibition, there is no chance of this Council adopting a realistic approach to the sea level rise issue. 

Our only hope is for the Shoalhaven Council to reject the latest joint sea level rise report in recognition of the damage it could do to their local economy, or for the State Government to stop shirking its responsibility in relation to sea level rise policy development.

Ian Hitchcock

Dalmeny

Should I buy a Landcruiser?

A recent news bulletin (well, actually a letter) reported on the shameful condition of Old Highway and Watertank Road: the two access routes to a local tourist attraction, the Tilba Winery.

That letter was the latest in a spasmodic, though long-running, campaign to hold the council accountable. 

Rural residents of the shire enjoy a different lifestyle to those who choose to live in town.

For the privilege of peaceful co-existence with nature, rural ratepayers save on garbage services (purchased from SITA instead of via the rates); save on water (we live on tank water); and on sewerage (septic is our option).

But we impose a burden on council, which assured us (via the Narooma News) last year that all the shire's dirt roads were maintained twice annually.

So following the grading of the Old Highway, Ridge Road and Watertank Road last Christmas holidays, it was with much anticipation that we looked forward to another maintenance operation in June.

Alas, our hopes were, as usual, dashed upon the altar of, presumably, budget constraints! 

Still, being an eternal optimist, I checked the council's own maintenance schedule for the shire's roads.

Bless me, if I didn't see that the schedule included a future planned maintenance operation for my very own road to paradise - on 26 December 2014.

Mayhap the grader crew will be paid double time and a half to do the work on Boxing Day?

Or maybe, as hinted at in the schedule, the work may 'slip', most likely to the 'second' planned maintenance date, in late June 2015?

That's my bet, anyway. I can only presume that, rather than biannual maintenance, the council really intends to provide we second-class citizens with a biennial service?

If so, maybe the ESC will also provide a subsidy for me to purchase a Landcruiser when my two-year-old sedan disappears into one of the road fissures - if I survive the fall…

S. Kennedy

Corunna

Join ebola fight

The government's statement that in the case of Ebola they will not put Australians in harm’s way is simply a cop out.

Mr Abbott had no problem sending military hardware and pilots again to Iraq - is that not sending Australians in harm’s way?

I can see that the extremists there need to be stopped as much as any other extremists in the world.

Ebola needs to be stopped as well, that is simply common sense.

Sometimes money is not good enough. With war and diseases, one needs to be an expert.

Most countries can see already that the world needs to do whatever is necessary to win the war against this terrible disease.

The world did this in the past and needs to do it again.

We can also gather vital experience this way, how to handle an epidemic when it is needed.

Australians are good world citizens and they are not a cop-out nation.

K. Kruger

Central Tilba

Councillors need to act with moral courage

I write to share with your readers the issues addressed to Eurobodalla Shire Councillors at the recent council meeting by Sister Laurel Clare, Guardian of our Franciscan Community, the Little Followers of Saint Francis.

In her address, Sister Laurel Clare stressed the important role that Councillors hold. 

She said, "In accepting the position of Councillor you undertook a position of high responsibility - one of public office and the responsibility that this carries. You were called to leadership; you were called to your civic duty and engagement so as to protect the rights and safety of all people in our community.  You were called to address what is first and foremost "for the public good".

You were called to determine policies which seek the very best for the community and to refuse those policies and institutions that do not serve that higher purpose."

She spoke of the the need for them to make a far-reaching and ethical decision on behalf of us all, as they decide on the application before them from the proponents of recreational hunting to now allow the sale of guns and ammunition at their annual Arms Fair in Narooma.

Sister Laurel Clare stressed the moral issues, which I feel have not been addressed fully and said,

"I believe that this is of such grave importance to our community that we must call forth in each one of our councillors their responsibility to their civic duty. To emphasise your moral duty to our community. I call upon you to connect to your humanity, your leadership and to greater intelligence on this issue.

This is not a decision for claims such as "as it isn't illegal we cannot oppose this application" - this is a call for you to make a moral choice for this community.  When you were elected you were not asked to leave your morals or intelligence at the Chamber's doorstep.  You were called to represent the highest ideals of our community not the desires of hunters that would place our people at greater risk.  You were called under the Local Government Act to always firstly consider the social effects on a community, and especially in regard to children.  This must be paramount as you make this decision. It must be considered over and above any perceived financial gain that exploiting the sale of weapons might bring.......those people who support the sale of weapons will not be the ones who will vote to elect the next councillors of this Shire.

I would encourage all councillors to consider this aspect when they make the decision whether they will allow the sale of guns at HuntFest.

It will  be the residents and ratepayers of this shire who will place their votes at the next election, not the far-flung supporters who currently are providing submissions supporting this application."

It is time that we as a community called upon our councillors to act with moral courage within their civic responsibilities.

Sister Mona Jesua Tyler (lfsf)

Community of the Little Followers of Saint Francis

Dalmeny