Whereabouts in the blue mountains are you?
Advice?
Grab the best mount you can afford basically
and get it 2nd hand from someone known on here. You will save a bundle and usually get extras as well as some valuable knowledge.
As for a scope, start out with a basic refractor. I am happy to lend you my ED80 for a couple of months so you can see if that is the kind of scope you would like to buy. Maybe post a wanted add for an eq6 or similar.
Bounce me a PM and I can loan you some gear.