We have decided to go with a honed and unfilled travertine tile approx 400 x 400 x 13mm (colour: cappucino ... med brown). We were going to go with a larger format paver but it was pointed out to us that this could result in the paving looking too chopped up (in several areas we'd have had to cut the pavers to 'fit' ... who know that you need to consider the width of your area etc to get best fit tiles?
We will lay on concrete ... cost increase to do this over the road base appears to be worth it with lots of people citing ants, pavers getting humps and bumps over time (particularly around a pool) and the inevitable weeds you get between tiles too. Also because we want to put in a few wide stairs and a couple of planter boxes it is cheaper to form in concrete than in brick so concreting made more sense.
We'll also go with the coping around the pool as a travertine ... more classic looks appears to be to keep the stone the same type but change the colour of coping so we will use a darker noche travertine. Have also learned that you can change the size of the pool coping (ie doesn't have to be same width as tile).
Re waterline tile I have been advised against anything out of China ... apparently the quality from here can be dubious and is not worth the risk. My builder who does a lot of pool renovation work said that the glue on the mesh at the back can come loose over time and then the tiles literally fall off the side of the pool. He is keen on paying more and going bisazza .... he also said that you need to look carefully at the gaps between the tiles ... tiles where they use a mix of different 'textures' can have different gaps between them and when tiled in to the pool they don't give a very professional uniformed look to the finish ... so I am back to trying to find a more reasonable place to purchase Bisazza (which appear to start at approx $140) in the shop I have looked at ... anyone with thoughts on places to look is welcome to offer suggestions ...
Diggers come tomorrow to remove some of the trees etc and set levels etc ...
So we are finally starting to move forward ... hoping that the weather holds for the next 10 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!