Andy, you'll soon discover that suburban Melbourne is very bright - I'm in Knoxfield - and you'll need to "go bush" to get darker skies to really enjoy the delights. I've been using a spot about an hour north, but Melbourne still glows too brightly under Crux. I've checked out Ken's (ballaratdragons) offering in Snake Valley. It looks like a superb venue and all I've heard and read of the Snake Valley Astronomical Association (
http://snake-valley-astro.homelinux.org/) seems great. However it's a 2.5 hour drive for me, so you wife might have to suffer being a widow for a longer time then just vanishing into the backyard. Unless, of course, you can convince her to come. My wife may come on 19th Jan, if I promise no mosquitoes!
Eric