Being able to join a local astronomy club or society and getting help from experienced people would be nice, but if that's not feasible, it's no big deal.
I was going to go the join-a-club-first route, tried to contact a local one a couple of times about their next scheduled viewing night, and got no response. Stuff this club joining BS, I thought, I'll just get myself a telescope. And I did. And it was a dud. But it was real cheap, and I had a ball with it anyway, so no big deal. Then, after a lot of reading I bought the 8" Dob I have now, which is great.
As for the actual astronomy bit, you just need to get some maps of the sky (planisphere + star charts) and you look up with naked eye, binoculars and telescope, in that order, and enjoy. "The Southern Sky Guide" by Ellyard & Tirion is great for showing you where the best deep sky objects are and has enough content to keep you entertained for a year of observing and then some.
It's not hard. This is astronomy, not rocket science!
But it's a lot of fun.
