crocodileman

Port Douglas is somewhere that you want to travel for a holiday, but living there can be limiting.
It is beautiful but If doesn't have everything that cairns has to offer in terms of shopping and lifestyle. There are some great restaurants but they can be expensive.

Whitfield is sprawling suburbia with some great houses up on the hill. Most houses are well kept and there are some amazing gardens around.
It's close enough to the city to get everywhere within 10 minutes. the 130 & 131 bus routes will take you to cairns central in about 20mins max.
Whitfield state school is pretty good.

The apartments near the esplanade have a great quality of life. It is a short stroll to most places in town and you are not far from the esplanade for your morning run.

There are plenty of restaurants in the area as well but you have access to everything the city has to offer. Cairns High is a great school. I'm not too sure about the primary schools.

Plenty of busses service the area on their way north and you could practically walk to the airport.

For me Edge Hill is walkable to most areas of Cairns. It has some excellent restaurants and cafes. There are multiple good child care centres and the state school is top notch which is important in Cairns because they are strict on letting people in out of the area.
The botanic gardens and tanks district are amazing with markets and regular concerts.

The beach has nice sunrises, but other than that there is not much appeal to the suburb.
It is very remote to cairns making it a considerable commute to get anywhere. The beach is a dog beach so not great for kids. If you have teenagers you will be constantly driving them into town. Good if you want to retire and play golf.

I know all my neighbours who are lovely. Gardens are well kept and I always feel safe.

People talk about the crime but as a local I watch the daily police reports and it comes up very rarely. Northern beaches and southern suburbs are much more frequent. It would be a good datascience project to record the prevalence. Looking up police reports they dont breakdown to suburb unfortunately.
Yes there is housing commission in the area, but the building and gardens are well kept.