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Hi Craig! Yes, I would follow Karlsson's advice and find a dark place out of Wagga. The moon is currently moving further back in our evening skies, so there will be some good observing conditions coming up (weather allowing!).
I wouldn't worry too much about using the filters at the start - you want the most light possible coming through. Also, make sure your eyes are adapted to the darkness before you start viewing (allow 20 mins or so). This will also let your mirror cool down. Really makes a difference!
It is a small telescope, so don't expect too much at the start. Get yourself a copy of Astronomy 2008, which has charts you can use to find the brighter deep space objects. And use your lowest power eyepiece (the one with the highest number) - higher powers are only good for the brightest stuff like planets and the moon in these scopes.
The brightest galaxies like NGC253 will only look like faint hazy patches, but the more you use the telescope, the more you will see. Try the brighter globular clusters, working down from the brightest, and you will find that over time (practise) you will be able to find fainter & fainter ones.
Above all, use it and enjoy it!
Cheers -
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