Hi,
Firstly if you want to live near the beach the gold cost or Bribie island are the closest beaches to Brisbane. Either are anything upto an hours train ride to central bisbane. ( I do prefer the sunshine coast to the gold cost though - less comercial) Cleveland and Redcliffe etc are on the bay - but lovely none the less.

Nudgee is a nice enough and about 30 min commute into the city. most areas have good schools so no problem there.

Cheers
Brent