Hi Liz
Like you I am a newbie. We are really lucky in this area because we have some excellent and experienced astronomers in our group who are very generous with their time and knowledge.
As a beginner I reckon Stellarium that Paul mentioned is the best of the planetarium software. Its easy to use and not too big to download. For books I like Atlas of the Southern Skies that Graham mentioned. I also subscribe to Australian Sky and Telescope. It comes out bi-monthly and has a section on what's up in the night sky. You can get it at most newsagents - in Lismore anyway - or I have plenty of back issues if you'd like to have a look. I like the Astronomy Yearbook too - month by month description of the night sky, with seasonal sky maps and lots of great info. There are some great free on line courses too - my favorite is the website
http://asterisk.apod.com/index.php And for sheer visual pleasure you can't go past
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
So happy hunting!
Judith