Hi Hoopa and welcome to IIS, hope you have a great time here.
The Canberra Astronomical Society have telescopes for hire to it's members.
I've added a link to their website, hope it helps.
http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/cas/
As you say there are no speciality Astro shops in Canberra, I usually go through the Sydney dealers which are a nice bunch of people, always willing to help.
Cheers