Hey Paul, check out a place called ecooutdoors.com.au for inspiration. I'm not sure if they're up your way but I'm sure you could get materials shipped. They have such a beautiful store with brilliant ideas. I'd be considering a stone that is cool under foot on hot Brisbane days and at least 30mm thick. You have an oval-ish shaped pool so you might consider a small coping stone to replace the brick then move on to a larger stone instead of the dated pebble, maybe a 'cush' limestone or go a bit glam and do a herringbone pattern with the right stone. Good Luck.

Hi Amy, Isn't it great! You can paint pebblecrete but my first thought is don't touch it. If you haven't already, pressure clean it to get the true colours. Personally, I'd lean towards the sandstone coloured paver unless there's an overwhelming of grey in your in the stone in your retaining wall (and because I love my high pressure hose, I'd give these a quick go over to check the colour too - what can I say - if I'm dragging the high pressure hose out to do one thing, do 'em all) - only because it's shady spot at some point during the day so the lighter sandstone will keep it light rather than feeling too shady (particularly in winter). Good luck - I'd love to see the end result.

Hello everybody, I have lived in Europe and also built several houses for which I have used blue stone. It is particularly in Belgium and Holland the most preferred natural stone for architects and home owners. You can of course for the cheaper ceramic tiles with a concrete or blue stone look but it will never be the same. The blue stone quarries have traditionally been in Belgium so you will see there lots of homes, streets and public buildings that are built with this stunning stone. You find it in different varieties (honed, polished, rough, etc..) and you can use it indoors as well as outdoors. We are going to build a hew house close to Sydney and will definitely go for blue stone both inside and outside, including the area around the swimming pool. In Australia, I have been told that blue stone is mainly quarried in Victoria. I am presently considering either to buy it there or to i port it from Belgium (which quality is slightly better and available in more varieties). Another very nice alternative is blue lime stone which in Australia is presently being imported from mainly Turkey. I have built with blue stone before and the result has always been much nicer than with granite, marble, travertin and of course also than the cheaper ceramic tiles that you find everywhere. We will probably combine the blue stone inside the house with underfloor (hydronic, not electric !) heating. Nice and cool in summer and pleasantly warm in winter.

Hi mluh You've obviously done your research on these products, so it's most likely going to come down to personal preference. As you've mentioned, a natural stone is going to come with an amount of maintenance but the beauty of Travertine is within its variation. Once sealed with a good quality sealer (I recommend Guard Industry), the maintenance is really quite low and most spills are lost within those natural variations. 99% of spills can be cleaned up without too much trouble. Porcelain, on the other hand, can be quite difficult to clean once it's been marked. That said, the external porcelains have a great non-slip texture and are very hardy when used as paving/tiles. I'm personally not a fan of using them as pool coping, but many people love it. Again, both have their advantages and disadvantages so I would recommend using the product that you're happy looking at for the next 10-20 years. - Jordan