Hi Rob and thanks for the encouragement.
We did have a long look at the moon tonight and it looked great too. Also a quick peak at the crescent of Venus.
My only real personal experience with 'optically assisted' sky viewing was by using a 4.5 inch 'department store' reflector with a very shaky tripod many years ago in another hemisphere of our planet...with considerably foggier skies too I might add!
I've been here in Oz for nearly eight years now and I remember one of the first things I noticed about the night sky here was just how clear it was and how many more objects were visible. I'm just a bit sorry I waited so long before I began to look skyward in earnest.
Well, the cosmos has been patient and has waited for me to get motivated and now I have a great skywatching buddy so we will be doing a lot more evening viewing...and also, of course, the mandatory gathering of progressively more expensive equipment as time progresses.
BTW, what do you think of your 8" GSO Dobson? It looks like a great value starter to me...especially in the Special M-CRF super deluxe version.
Cheers!