Hi Anna,
to IIS,
Lovely to see a new person join and ask about getting a shiny new scope,
I love spending someone else's money...
The good thing about astro is you can spend as much or as little as you want, and still be satisfied. Doesn't matter how many $$$$ you spend, each level of $ presents its own set of challenges.
Another good thing about astro is you can make things as complex or simple as you want to take them.
Do you have any experience with scopes? This I feel we need to ask you first as it will help tailor our replies.
Your question, like Brent mentions, needs a bit more fleshing out for us to help you. Visual (looking through the scope) or imaging (astrophotography) are you looking to follow? For visual, usually this follows you want as large an aperture as you can get for money and ease of transport. Imaging aperture grunt is not as important, but the mount, cameras and associated gear is.
How much money do you want to spend?
If you don't have much experience, I'd suggest you try to get to a local star party, organised by an astro club or an informal gathering, and spend some time seeing the type of equipment there, how simple or complex it is to set up or use, how large things are, the myriad of bits and pieces that there is, and what each type of scope is capable of doing, visual and imaging wise.
There is plenty of info here in IIS on such gatherings. Just ask,
Australia's largest star party is happening this weekend near Mudgee in NSW, the South Pacific Star Party (SPSP), and there is a thread discussing it in the Star Parties forum. An informal gathering at the same time is happening at Katoomba Airfield closer to Sydney. These are just a suggestion as we don't know where you are,
Cheers,
Mental.
