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Hi Timbo
I'm quite new to this as well. I've only been out about 10 times now but the last three or four times have been great. I was the same as you, the first few times I saw Saturn and venus which were amazing but I had no clue how to find anything else. The best thing is to actually have someone show you but that's not always easy and I've only recently had someone do that.
What I've started doing now is choosing a constellation that I will concentrate on each time a go out. First I used stellarium to see what constellations will be out at what times and then I look up what is in that constellation to see. I have a book called "Atlas of the Southern Night Sky", and from that I can find out what is in each constellation. I normally only see a few things each night and they're mainly clusters, but I'm getting better and hope to see more nebulae and maybe a galaxy one day! I saw one at uni but have never been able to find one on my own.
If you have a smart phone or tablet you should also get an astronomy app. I have one called "Goskywatch". You just point your phone in the sky and it shows you what's there. I don't use it as much as I used to but it is quite handy. I found a few DSO's just using this but I find that if I try and learn the constellation I not only see things but It's easier to remember where I saw them.
If you're really keen to easily see a DSO you could wait up for Orion. I did a few weeks ago and it was one of the best things I've ever seen. As I said, I'm quite new to this and I'm sure there are better ways but doing this has helped me.
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