G'day all.
Thanks for all the helpful replies, it is much appreciated
Sorry for the late reply from me, i haven't forgotten about the forum or the generous help - life's been hectic with a newborn!
I definitely will look at some dobs then after reading the above replies. It was going to be a surprise gift but not anymore and the missus has also asked for a goto mount haha as she said she won't have the patience for maps etc so looks like i will extend my budget then (if i can stop spending money on my cars hoho!)
I told her about the meets/clubs etc and she was keen to go, just bringing along a 4month old might've been hard so i think i will just need to goto bintel one day and check 'em out in person or maybe snag a good used setup from these forums.
Once again thanks for all your help, i'll definitely point her to the forums and will probably have a few more noob questions i might post in this thread later on. Most importantly, you guys have saved me from walking into national geographic and buying some random one off the shelf
(i'm assuming they're not too great now after seeing some 'real' ones on bintel etc).