If you've really no ideas yourself Claudia, perhaps what you need to do initially is hire a professional landscape gardener. Some immediate thoughts are that you might like to consider how much maintenance you are prepared to do to develop a garden once the basics have been installed/established; what your soil is like; are you on the coast or inland; etc., etc.

Not sure which part of Qld you're in. The tall palm in the back looks like a Syagrus romanzoffiana so I'd say you're down south. Those palms don't seem to like the tropics. The 2 smaller clumps of palms look like Dypsis lutescens. A bit difficult to make out what the poolside plants centre picture are, looks a bit like Palm Grass, Molineria capitulata, although could be one of the smaller Heliconias (or a number of other plants), need a closer image. Can't say what the leafless tree is, nor some of the other small poolside plants. The tree far left is a Mango.

You don't want to have too many plants dropping leaves into the pool, trees can be a problem that way. Palms are better, it's easier to fish out a whole frond rather than lots of small leaves. Monstera deliciosa will give you the effect you want, and Tree Philodendron. There's a lot of different gingers to choose from. Heliconias are good, but they can become a bit invasive. There's also some very nice Pandanus, but they need to be kept in the background, many tend to have fine spikes along the edges of their leaves. Crotons give a lot of colour all year. As for flowering plants, just wander around some of the local nurseries and see what's available. That would be a good start.

Thanks so much Tropicbreezent! You have given me the starting point I need! Great to know what I have in the gardenalready and fantastic suggestions!

Are you in the South east Qld area? The Australian Open Garden Scheme (AOGS) recommences with garden openings in February, there are some nice tropical gardens to give you ideas. The Subtropical Gardening mag is good for landscaping ideas and plant ideas - you might find back issues at your local library. It's not a huge area but plenty of room for scope for what you want. Some things will slot in nicely as fill-ins, too, like potted bromeliads. On the hot pool surrounds, potted bougainvilleas would give great colour and some of the bambinos have fewer thorns if you are worried about kids/animals. If you work out some of the sort of things you'd like, ask around for cuttings - it won't take long for small plants to become established.

Having another think about this, perhaps along that back timber fence for example, Loropetalum; Thunbergia Vogilliana 'tru-blu' and or maybe Breynia nervosa (confetti bush) or the native breynia 'Iron Range' would look effective. All are densish bushes to about 2 metres and blend nicely together - Loropetalum has pink flowers, the thunbergia, deep blue to purple and the confetti bush, well, looks like confetti - leaves of light green, pink and white. Closer to the pool where that medium size green is, cypress 'Nitschke' needle could look effective, with perhaps a ground cover cypress underneath. Benefit is no leaf fall into the pool. Just a thought.

Oh, and for a suggestion of a bit of tropical floral colour here and there - which would add interest - you couldn't go past a few allamandas; there are a variety of types, sizes and colours and they flower all summer. Mandevilleas, too,(climbers) would also be worthy of consideration and also come in a variety of colours. bougainvillea, thorny but worth consideration, and a few annuals would also give the site an added splash of colour and interest in spring and summer.