Looking for suburb recommendations - moving to QLD!

Hi there! We are making the move to QLD at the end of this year and we are looking for recommendations of an area to settle in.... We are looking between north of Brisbane (not as far as Sunny Coast) down to the Tweed Shire of northern NSW. Our 'must haves' are: a safe suburb either 15-20mins drive from the beach or further afield if we can secure more land; a 3 bedroom home, good local schools, access to childcare, hospitals and public transport. Our budget is up to approx $500k. It's been difficult to get a feel for area's without being up to QLD to see them yet, so any advice or recommendations would be great. We will travel up in July to see some areas before buying but it would be really helpful to be able to narrow our search down. Thanks so much :-)