www.bintel.com.au is the premium reseller in Australia, the guys are very knowledgeable and helpful, and provide excellent support, all which is worth paying a tad for as these guys have to make a living like all of us.
There's also
www.andrewscom.com.au
Buying expensive or cheap... my own view is that only a Questar telescope is worth spending big bucks on. Engineered like no other, and built to last a lifetime. Everything else you will replace sooner or later. The items with the shortest life are electronics. Then telescopes, mounts.
A good set of eyepieces should last upwards of 10 years, possibly 20 before you'll have the itch to upgrade them.
Lastly there is also an opposite view to yours... there are some here (self included) who have consciously decided not to plunge a lot of money into this hobby for a few reasons:
a) There are so many people banging away with far better gear than you can possibly afford that bothering to acquire an astrophotography setup has become somewhat pointless IMHO.
b) Think carefully about how often you will really get to use this gear. If you live in Sydney for example, that might be fairly rarely as its a long drive to dark skies and we've had several wet years in a row; some of us haven't pulled a scope out more than a couple of times a year.
If I was looking for a setup, I'd be starting with one of these babies
http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/...ph-review.html or similar. Fast enough, plenty of aperture, and pinpoint star images.