Happy to describe the Gold Coast - I love it here. (DeletedUser hates it, just to put whatever he says later in context).
In terms of distance - assuming your hubby will be working in Central - there are a number of bus options and the FASTEST bus at the BEST time of day is 30 minutes approx (my record is 28 mins - that excludes walk to/from the bus stop). More normal is 40-45 mins (again, excluding walking) and on a bad day it can be an hour.
If you take a different bus (the kind Bryant would have access to, not living in the "gold coast proper") then the fastest you are looking at is 45 mins and that's off peak; slowest could be as much as 1.5 hours on a very bad day (snarl up on the freeway etc).
There is no train here but there are buses and the freeway is about 2km/5 mins drive from the Gold Coast and goes all the way to Central (circa 30km at a guess).
It's reasonably open for HK (remember, everything is relative!). The marina uses the buses from the Gold Coast Residences, others cannot. We have our own club and a separate country club with fabulous facilities - huge swimming pool, squash courts, tennis courts, gym, restaurants, TV and kids facilities. However many of the developments also have these. Unfortunately though most "developments" mean high rise. If you live in a Village house you get no club facilities - but you can join a club (pretty darn expensive though).
Our shopping centre is small but has most things you need on a day-to-day basis. Two supermarkets, chemist, 7-11, MacDonalds, a pseudo-English "tea shop", a bunch of other restaurants ranging from a noodle store to a high-end French Bistro (with prices to match); no banks but a couple of ATM's; no Post Office but a post box and 7-11 sells stamps. Crossroads (a charity) has a more "unusual" coffeeshop across the road where the more bohemian types hang out.
Behind the GOld COast are mountains and a reseviour with excellent hiking and mountain biking. Next to the GC is a nice beach (agree with Bryant on the beach front!) which also has a couple of large public BBQ areas (so you can still have your friends around for a beach-front BBQ!).
That's about it really. I love my boat, I love living in HK. At weekends and in the evening, the boat is INCREDIBLY peaceful - very quiet and no neighbour noise. That's rare in HK. I don't know about the other places.
One other comment. You are in residential letting to people who are expats? Talk about a skill that is in demand in HK! I don't think you'd have much trouble getting a job here. Just go to some of the high-end letting agencies who deal mainly with expats. Unfortunately, that means you'd need to get very familiar with all the "high end" letting options - of which the Gold Coast (with the exception of the Beach Houses, which are lovely and out of your budget) is not. Which probably means living on HK island and socializing with that kind of folks as part of your networking for your job. And getting in with the "wong" crowd per Mat's earlier comment. But I wouldn't rule out a job not in Central, but probably much harder to get.
I hope this helps. Good luck.