For the best tropical effect - nothings beats Monsteras - lots of them - overlapping, Consider a travellers palm in the background (they can grow very large) - the above options will result in little if any leaf litter into the pool. If you put in some large monsteras - I would suggest a few smaller ones as well to create variation and make it look more natural. The above plants are relatively slow growing and will only require dead frond removal (at ground level) a couple of times a year. Ferns would look great in between (or Taro) but they grow faster and more maintenance is required. Either a good ground cover, or thick black plastic between the plants with a good thick layer of stones/ wood chips or similar. beware of anything too light which may blow into the pool during a storm. Below ground retic is always the best - but sometimes its nice to have a spray onto the leaves (perhaps a separate system) if you want to simulate the tropical rainforest thing whilst lounging in the pool at night.

I'd go for something hardy like lillipillies along the pool - provided that you don't mind losing sun in either the morning or afternoon depending on which way the side faces. If you want to keep the pool nice and warm go for something a bit lower like a mix of tropical plants like ginger, small palms and bougainvillea which will add lovely colour. I'd caution against bamboo as they drop quite a bit of leaf litter and are very water hungry. As for the shady areas not sure but perhaps some pretty river pebbles as 'mulch' interspersed with a few shade-loving tropical plants like you see at hotels. But not too many plants as this will make the area darker.

Lovely area, and living in Queensland you can grow lots of lush plants and they reach full size very quickly, Rhapis palms, large elephant ears, Xanadu as an under plant , bromeliads for structure and colour and you will have a lush tropical look in no time

We have Paramount in floor pool cleaner with hedge/plants around pool. Infloor pool cleaner is awesome. I vacuum pool 2-3 times a year.