Hi, Emma. The best place to start is by adding photos, from the top of this page, to an ideabook on your homepage. You can put tropical Australian gardens into the search bar at top of page. Save the pics you like. Also, you need to add photos of your property exterior to this comments section here. Can also put them in a separate ideabook, so Houzzers don't get confused. A plan showing north, with dimensions, will also help you get really good advice.

A few challenges to negotiate here, primarily safety barrier compliance - simplest way is to keep it away from the house have the pool fence lines simple & straight.....maybe consider the fire pit area with integrated built in seating closest to the house, with the pool beyond......resort feel will come from various elements, but typically lush layered planting, balanced surface treatments that respond to an external space that has been "designed" comprehensively to specific function as you would an internal space. Would be worth your while investing in some professional design (an actual architect, not just a landscaper) as these spaces need to be understood as areas to "experience" and this is what our profession specialises in achieving and helping people with....also these areas can become quite expensive so understanding budget and how to manage/distribute it is fundamental to the design decisions Best of luck Cheers PD www.pauldistefanodesign.com

I was going to suggest that the shower and hanging for togs and towels be placed in the red zone using the pool house plumbing. It looks great where you have it but it should have somewhere for the togs and towels as kids will use them several times a day in hot weather. If the Pool House was a POOL house and open to the pool would that mean you could just fence it and the pool together, but I guess by being multi function that changes the rules

being able to walk from the carport around and about through the laundry and pantry was ok but bringing in bags of groceries only happens occasionally and my new arrangement only adds a few metres to that walk while having the extra space for the theatre and laundry and more direct access from carport to inside saves lots of wasted space and makes the rooms more comfortable to use (eg space in the laundry to stand an ironing board and a theatre room more comfortable for group TV watching) but more importantly having a pool needs supervision from inside and swopping the lounge gives better line of sight to a centrally placed pool that allows for the garden and alfresco at the sides and less wasted space but main reason for my suggestions is for you to consider all options so that compromises are made to suit the way you want to live