Go for it Chris. The GSO (or Bintel) 12" is the scope I ended with and it is one of the best scopes around. I made a little trolley that I use to transport in and out as the OTA is quite hard to Handle. The thread describing is here
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=47433
One other thing I have done is made up a couple of straps with velcro that wrap around the OTA to make carrying easier. I'll post a photo when I get around to it! Also you may find the azimuth motion is fairly "loose" so the scope moves around a bit too easily especially in the wind. This is easily fixed with a couple or 3 of those felt furniture pads they sell at the hardware store between the 2 plates of the base.
I assume by "lenses" you mean eyepieces (or EPs for short). The scope will some with a couple, according to the website a 26mm and a 9mm. These should be all you need to start with. You will find the 9mm hard to use as the exit pupil and eye relief are quite small, so the 26mm will spend a lot of time in the focuser. Don't spend money on expensive EPs just yet until you know what you want. When you do feel like spending some more have a look at the 24mm Televue Panoptic. Probably the best value for money general EP out there IMHO.
The Astronomy 2011 book is a good starting point, but once you get into it a really good atlas is essential. Uranometria 2000 is probably the gold standard but is abig publication. Sky Atlas 2000 is the other choice and I am a big fan of the Cambridge douple star atlas as a general use atlas. All these are available at Bintel. Try and get yourself to a camp or club night so you can learn some of the finer points of star hopping (and also to check out some EPs!) Try and get up to Snake Valley next month if you can.
Malcolm