Embracing change - Marilyn, Sal, Dianne and Brian

Embracing change

When Marilyn and Sal Carrero retired to the NSW Central Coast, they thought they had it made.

“We lived five minutes’ walk from the water and it was very beautiful,” Marilyn says. “But after seven years we realised we’d never met our next door neighbours. We wanted a community.” The couple contemplated moving, spending months researching their options. “We went to a country living expo and we saw this big banner that said, ‘Temora the friendly town’, which really appealed to us,” Sal says. “We’d never heard of Temora so we took a drive out there and noticed this beautiful old house. We just looked at each other and said, ‘want that!’ We ended up buying it.” As soon as Marilyn and Sal were settled in their new home, the Temora community reached out to them. “The first thing that happened was somebody rang me and said, ‘I believe you’re into quilting?’” Marilyn says. “They invited me to a meeting and I’ve been receiving invitations ever since!” When Marilyn’s sister Dianne and her husband Brian came to visit, they also fell in love with Temora’s down to earth community. “We were planning to move somewhere else, but changed our mind,” Brian laughs. “We just loved the place.” Both couples have had stints in the local hospital, and feel reassured that Temora’s medical facilities are more than adequate. “The hospital is absolutely wonderful, offering total personal care,” Dianne says. “There’s also a terrific medical centre.” Sal, who runs several online businesses, has also been surprised by the speed of the internet in Temora. “There’s a common misconception that small towns have slow internet,” he says. “I reckon the internet here is one of the fastest in Australia. I can have 150 browsers open at one time so I couldn’t live anywhere where the internet was slow.”