Hi Jenny, I'd suggest popping into your local nursery (not big box store). Often they will offer a consultation service where they can come out and help suggest plants that suit your aspect, climate and situation. The other option is to have a consultation with a local landscape designer or horticulturalist who specialises in planting. Check your local landscape association or AILDM for listings in your area. An outlay now could save you $$$'s in the longer term, as well as making sure that what you do spend your money on is going to give you the most bang for your buck. They'll also have local knowledge as to what can potentially become weeds. Just remember you can't plant anything against the fence that can be considered climbable - this can include hedges. Have a look at the link I included above as to what the definition of climbable is. Look for lush and green to link in with the background. Some pops of colour; maybe foliage (eg alternanthera) or flower (bougainvillea or mandevilla) will also help to lift it and make the green more green. Small growing varieties of lomandra may be better than the large one you have there - this could easily be moved, divided and used elsewhere.

My piece of advice would be to make sure the plants you select can tolerate being around a pool. This will definitely be a 'splash zone' so any plant species that will get damaged or not cope with salty or chlorinated water. As an example, I have seen a beautiful row of Black Mondo Grass that suffered greatly from the pool water and died. Also be mindful of the size of plants you might be planting close to your pool. Plants with invasive roots or large palms can cause damage to the strucutre of your pool so their locations should be carefully considered. Good luck!

I would not recommend bamboo, especially that close to the pool. Bamboo drops lots and lots and lots of leaves and it is also susceptible to salt and chlorine. We planted bamboo (clumping) along the fence in our pool area in Melbourne and although I loved the look of it we took it out last year as it was just too much work cleaning up the leaves. I could have filled our green bin every week and it clogged up our pool cleaning robot. It also started yellowing in one spot that occasionally got splashed and I was told it was due to the chemicals. Once we took the bamboo out we had timber slat screening put up against the existing fence (with consent from neighbor) and have now planted a few lily pily in front. So much easier to maintain now.

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