I personally think the cladding would look nice and be the easiest to maintain. We also live on the Gold Coast and have a brick house that has been rendered (not by us) and, to be honest, it is not particularly low maintenance (if you want it to stay looking good that is). It is prone to leaching which leaves ugly stains so regularly needs retouching with the paintbrush. It can also develop small cracks in the render due to temperature change and movement. However, the most worrying thing for us is with regards to termites. If you render over your brick on the lower half of your house, it is highly unlikely you will see the telltale "mud" they leave that indicates they are trying to gain access into your house (they climb up in between the render and the brickwork). I would be trying to keep the exposed bricks in preference to rendering over them, particularly if you have a garden bed up against the house anywhere.

Hi Sophia, I think a dark grey with a hint of mauve would look spectacular and keep the whole home looking cool. What's more, when your garden and trees grow, the greens will complement the colour. Then a touch of red in plantings of kangaroo paw, bottle brush or hibiscus or even a flame tree would make the neighbours applaud your colour choices for sure. Check out Dulux's Colour Wall palette under Greys for tones like Yarwood, Otto's Boy and Babbler http://www.dulux.com.au/colour/colour-wall

Here is a pic of our front facade and the right hand side facing south. Also open to other options not just render and colorbond. Would love some feedback! Thanks

After great thought with the advice given & other researched sites, we have decided to not render our bricks. :) We have begun re painting our pergola from dulux lexicon to taubmans coffee cake - very similar to our window trims. It's a neutral stone/beige colour. We hope to paint our garage doors & gutters monument & probably the facia trims in coffee cake. Fingers crossed for it to look ok. Thanks again.