hey mate, i grew up in the gong now 22 and the lifestyle here is pretty good, traffic isn't that bad during peak hour only around the main cities where even that is fine. Almost all suburbs have a ghetto spot but there not as bad as you would think, crime rates not too bad(your cars pretty safe at the supermarket) and theres always a punchup in town on a saturday night. police do blitz all around the area and speed traps. there are jobs around but yeah we are lazy people down here, not so much warehouse n distribution jobs but more retail and customer service orientated. Hayfever wise my mrs gets hayfever here but she can cope if not have a zirtec. Beaches are good too.
Downsides - gets boring after you have seen the sites, not many performance stores but with sydney between 1-2 hours away depending on area theres heaps to choose. Nightlife is the same like most clubs play the same songs but dont go fever or formally known as bluenote its dirrrttyy
but over the years here i have met alot of people who moved from sydney and other major cities and they find it so much more relaxing and they do enjoy the beaches and that "lazy" wollongong style. i didnt want to go into heaps of detail or i would be writing a book on this town but all in all wollongong its not a bad choice down here