Hi Iceman,
I live in Merimbula on the Sapphire Coast, down near Eden and the Victorian border. There isn't too much light polution where I am so I'm pretty lucky.
I've contacted the Bega Valley astronomy society. I think they only meet once every few months but I haven't seen a notice for one coming up.
I would like to see what other scopes ppl use, but more importantly for someone to show me how to use mine. You can only read so much and try things yourself, but nothing is better than having someone in the 'know' give you a run down.
I think I go alright despite being unable to correctly balance my scope and find the SCP to polar align
It is my first scope but I was able to locate Jupiter the first time I used it in about 15 mins, and increased magnification until I could see the bands of colour. The finder of the celestron astromaster isn't much chop.
I want to get a goto mount, but I know it's cheating a bit. I will learn to polar align manually and I've learnt so much already just by fluffing around and reading a lot. I didn't realise how technical it is, but that's ok, I'm always up for a challenge. I don't think the wife actually realised what she has done by giving me a telescope; the fact it's not the cheapest hobby to get into
ANyway, thanks for the hello.
Andrew