You can buy a much better scope than those Celestrons for $800. You don't necessarily need a goto scope first up to get your foot in the door. They're good and convenient, but you really need to learn about the sky and where to find objects first. To familiarise yourself with what you're looking at. I would suggest that a good scope for yourself, as a beginner, would be a 8-10" dobsonian mounted reflector. That's your basic alt-az mount that you point yourself in the direction that you want to observe. You'll be able to observe a lot more with this size scope than you will will those Celestron scopes.
Have a look at the scopes at these sites, in your price range....
Bintel
Andrews
MyAstroShop (check the goto and dobsonian links under "telescopes")
Also, I'd suggest you join the
Townsville Astronomy Group. That way, you'll get to meet us all at some stage and you'll also get to see scopes you might like and have a look through them. You'll also learn a lot off the members
