[stebai (Steve amp Hayley)]

Hi

I'm new here - but i must say it appears to be the friendliest forum i have ever seen!
This Christmas i have bought my wife a telescope - she has always been interested in this kind of thing in conversation - now i'm hoping she will find it equally interesting to actually be involved in. I did some research and although i had a limited budget (i didn't want to spend too much as i don't want it to turn into a foot spa kind of gift - sorry to anyone who bought a foot spa - it's not personal...) - the advice i got was to go for a low end donsonian, which i managed to acquire.
I picked up a Bintel BT-202 from a disinterested student (he had been given it as a present but used it only once or twice according to his dissillusioned parents..hmm do telescopes make good gifts..) for a smidge under $300. I felt pretty good about it, am i right to think this is a good starter scope?
Well its complete with 3 eyepieces, a fan, a redlight torch, starmap and i think a moon filter. I have since bought a copy of "Astronomy 2009" - should this be enough?
My REAL question is what should we hope to see on XMas night - is there anything we should specifically be looking for? I am told the moon is a good starting point - is it in a good phase right now? Please excuse my crass use of terminology, i really, really am new to all of this.
We live in around the Greensborough area in Melbourne, Vic. The road we live on is pretty dark (it uses the streetlamps that are cowled to prevent light going upwards (which i'm told is useful).
Oh well - i hope thats enough info and i really would appreciate any thoughts on the scope/things to look for issues.
If my wife likes it i believe the next step is a light pollution filter am i right?

Cheers and all the best to all that read my post - have a Happy Christmas.

Steve