Hi Giggly
The property market here has already taken a dive (!) and so you will have to hope it's continuing. I doubt prices are going back up any time but they seem to be holding at this position. People in a lot of areas are making silly offers on houses considerably below asking.
Short holiday let the best (if not the only) plan. If I were in your shoes I'd be looking seriously at schools. There is a variation in quality here, just as anywhere, but the strong private sector means that this is particularly noticeable for secondary school, with some quite dramatically better than others.
Given your work location you would ideally want to be on the Fremantle train line or a good bus route to West Perth, or driving down the freeway. That will actually narrow your search quite a bit. check out the Transperth webpage. Once you've figured out an acceptable commute draw a circle on your map, find out schools, and go from there! If you do all that before you go you will have a good idea of general area, and I think Stirling (either suburb or city of) is a good bet. Woodlands is a nice suburb with good schools and so is Carine but I suspect you may actually do better to buy rather than rent in those areas (rents seem higher than purchase prices, IYSWIM)
On countryside do you mean to live in or to visit? Very accessible to visit but Perth also has huge swathes of urban greenspace, which is lovely. For you, if you are only planning one car, probably not so good to live as your commute will be long.