Re the mortar, I just preferred the look of the grey mortar - less standout-ish if you know what I mean, sort of matched in with the bricks rather than separating them with a contrast colour.
We got the addresses from Boral of a few places with Vic Blue and I liked it better. Just personal preference, white is lovely and crisp, just not what I wanted.
Fair enough, I guess we are the opposite in we wanted a bit of a contrast, especially when we were going with the dark roof.
I must say looking at pics of your house I am glad we went the blue bricks as I do like the look of yoru place both outside and in, so congrats on that