With that sort of budget you will be able to get yourself some very nice glass. I enjoy scanning the night sky with my bino's when I want a break from the scope.
- Monopods and tripods are fine until you wish to look near the zenith, then you tend to find that the mount gets in the way. It might be worth looking at buying or building a parallelogram mount.
- I'd avoid zoom binoculars as they do not perform as well as fixed magnification bino's.
- Avoid models that do not allow you to adjust the focus.
I have an old pair of Japanese Clear View 7x50's. The Japanese glass is very good and the collimation is still spot on but the focus mechanism is starting to show its age. They are 30 years old and still give great views of the night sky.
I was recently tempted by a set of 7x50 Gerber Delux Porro Water Proof Bino's. Superb optics and lighter than my Clear View's.
You are in Brisbane so it might be worth a visit to Sirius Optics. Ron is extremely helpful and his customer service to top notch. He has a good range of quality binoculars on display.
Hope this helps.