Central Florida (Zone 9a) I recycle, reuse, repurpose!
to the site Jaya. I am sending you a link to Gardening Australia. You should be able to get some good solid gardening help just by watching these videos.
If I lived there I would put some trees in immediately in order to have some shade for understory plants later. Bottlebrush is a good specimen and so are Acacia trees. I would definitely try to get some Eucalyptus trees too.