It is, it was a toss up between this place and one over by Coles which was far from the beaches but had a private dock and a pool. There was certainly a lot around though as I was told many many times "no jobs". :)
For subletting not really though I think we're the first people to rent the whole building. I like having the separate office space too much to give it up and we'd need to furnish it down here with more than desks/bookshelves/filing cabinets and whiteboards.
Yeah it's pretty dead here but that aligns pretty well with our interests. I like running/gym/working and my wife loves the gym/beach. Then we both like hiking which there is ton to do within sort of a 1-1.5h radius.
The slow paced part is definitely a problem but we lived in Chang mai for most of 2015 so we have had experience with it to an even worse degree fairly recently.
That's a good price for proximity to the main beach, and especially with the separate apartment. Have you considered subletting it out (maybe even just the holiday season?), could probably get a good price for that location. Do you find Yamba a bit dead? I grew up in Grafton, and know how slow-paced rural Australia can be.