Hi there,
best of luck, in advance , with your possible/future move to Rocky.
The following answers are obviously subjective and I'm sure you'll want to have a good look around once you get here.
1. Best places: The Range area has some lovely older houses, Queenslanders etc. close to the Botanic gardens and the two grammar schools. Frenchville is one of the best suburbs. If you want lots of space or are thinking of building your own there are a couple of areas in north rocky: Glenlee, Olive tree estate etc.
2:The best schools depend on area and budget. If you're happy fee paying there's the Grammar, Girls grammar or some of the catholic schools: St Anthony's, St. Peter's. State school wise: Frenchville has a good reputation. Mount Archer has also been rising in their results.
3: south side, ( Rocky's divided by the Fitzroy river and everything is either south side, or north side!), is generally prone to flooding, but only in sections. Saying that there are areas near to Lakes creek, north side that regularly flood. Your best bet is to google Rockhampton regional council's website and there's a section which maps areas that are affected by flooding.
4: Everywhere takes 10 mins to get to in Rocky! However, there are people who commute into Rockhampton from "The Beach"- Yeppoon/ emu park, takes about 30/40 mins depending on traffic. There's obviously the airport that does daily flights to Brisbane and the train service.
Hope that helps a little!