There are very good reasons to recommend
against a Goto scope for a beginner. With a goto scope you might never learn to really look at the sky and explore. But it totally depends on what you want to get out of astronomy. This is where going to a star party or public observing night at a large astro club/society is extremely valuable and cannot be replaced with other people's opinions you read online.
FWIW I would say: get a manually operated push-to scope, a planisphere, basic star/deep-sky atlas, red torch and a pair of binoculars. It's a lot more fun doing it that way: much more of an adventure. But that's just the way I feel about it. And if you get lost and cannot find something, get on the forums and ask.
Goto has its place, and it's certainly something you might like to consider later on especially once you're ready to upgrade to a larger scope. But initially it can suck all the life out of the experience. Kind of like sightseeing in a foreign city by taxi with blacked out windows and only ever stopping and getting out to take a brief look at the major tourist attractions. And also spending most of your travel money on taxi fares: with a small to medium sized goto scope, most of the money goes into the goto (computer, electronics, motors ...) instead of the optics, which is what you'd really need to make you go
instead of
JMO. Everyone's needs are different. You need to sus things out for yourself.
PS @Kiki Seeing you're in Brisbane, you should go along to one of Astro Pete's weekly viewing nights or better yet one of the monthly star parties. I heard a lot of good things about this guy. See
http://astropetes.com.au/
I do not by any means regret never having been through the manual phase, but there is something to be said for learning the skies.
