Hi James,
The Townsville Astronomy Group is most likely heading out to Donnington Airfield at Woodstock this afternoon/evening (cloud may cause an issue but I believe a few are heading out including myself - TAG is on the www at
http://astronomy.abigbluesky.com/).
Best bet is to come out and have a look at a range of scopes to get a better idea. Failing that, wait until the astro night on the 20th and have a look then before making a purchase. Helps to have a look first and discuss what you want it for, portability, etc.
I bought my first scope from Myastroshop as a few people on forums recommended them. Andrews seems to have some good pricing and a decent range too. I found the website at Bintel a pain to navigate through and tend to avoid it.
One of the TAG members has an 8" collapsible dob up for sale for around $450 which is fairly reasonable for a secondhand scope about 12 months old.
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/produc...sp?id=MAS-041E
Cheers
Damien