hiya koolio
any specifis reason why you'd want a tripod? just going by one of the sydney suppliers for example (andrewscom.com.au). for your price range you have given you can buy a GS600 which is a 8 inch f4 reflector on a sv1 mount. now the sv1 mount apears to be the equivilent to a eq5 tho probably not as well made which means it will be a bit wobbly and there is no drive to the mount so you will have to move it manually while the optical tube its self seems quite reasonable... you will need a flat area and the mount will need to be polar aligned.
however on teh same site you can get a 10 inch dobsonian mounted reflector (GS880). the dobsonian base is alot more sturdy and moves in a basic up/down and left right motion. this means you just plonk it down anywhere and just use it, no polar aligning needed. because this scope has an extra 2 inches of aperture you will see more too.
just some food for thought