I sometimes find a Newtonian reflector a bit of a pita on an equatorial mount for general viewing as the eyepiece can end up in some weird and not so wonderful positions. I'd much rather have a dobsonian newt (cheaper too, an 8" Dob at Bintel is $550. It should be smooth, easy to point at things and easy to live with. If you go the equatorial mount direction you probably need to spend towards $1000 just to get something reasonable for photography. Personally, I"d start with the 8" Dob and a good planetarium program on either the computer or ipad and go from there. A good program will show you all the 'highlights' of night sky for any given night too.
Otherwise, perhaps a 4" refractor on the best EQ mount you can afford. Something like this...
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/produc...sp?id=MAS-031D