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Welcome Mike!
I'm an SCT owner and in Australia at least they wouldn't be my first choice based on cost. I brought my scopes with me and they have and do serve me well, but there are other scopes that give you better value for money for visual astronomy here. It's hard to go far wrong with a computerised Dob - I say computerised because personally I'm a fan of tracking mounts, so that when I'm looking at an object it isn't constantly trying to run away! Then if you've got some remaining budget invest in a couple of nice eyepieces and other accessories (collimation tools, coma corrector?).
You should treat AP independently from visual as the equipment has little overlap with what you might use for visual. Many of us have more than one scope, as they all have different purposes and specialities. If you find yourself leaning in that direction in the future, you can always start with just a camera and lens before getting too bogged down with equatorial mounts and all.
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