Hi Scarsnik
I hope you find those 12x60s to your liking. Being in Sydney, you should have them in no time - but just ask the AOE guys by email. They will come collimated (put simply - both barrels aligned and looking at the same view, not one offset compared to the other, particularly vertically), but this is a skill you should learn at some stage - you might have to tweak them sometimes. Ask AOE to give you their sheet of collimation instructions.
I suggest making up some dew guards for the front objectives. I found some spring water bottles that were the right diameter, cut them up so I had two cylinders, sprayed them inside and out with a matt black paint and just push them over the ends while viewing.
You may find that you soon tire of hand-holding - so think about a suitable tripod. AOE hopefully will include a tripod mount ("L" shaped). The Velbon tripods in the $100-120 range will do the trick, but is is always hard to look towards the zenith using a tripod.
I think you've find that you'll be better off with a more professional style planisphere - particularly one well covered in plastic to keep the paper/cardboard from getting soggy in the dew. You'll find them in the telescope shops - around $25 for a good size double-sided one.
You should look for the two Australian magazines - Sky & Telescope (Australia) and Sky & Space at a bigger newsagent. Lots of hints and directions on things to view, lots of good stories, lots of advertisements which will empty your wallet and your piggy bank if you succumb!!
Buy this book:-
http://home.st.net.au/%7Edunn/heavensabove/
Get a chair to sit on - some old gas lift office chair will be a good start. A small table to spread your papers - an old sheet to cover everything - hopefully it gets wet with the dew and everything underneath survives.
A red light torch - there is a DIY project on this site, else Eveready sell a headlamp everywhere (KMart etc) with a white light position and a red light position. Headlight is handy - hands-free while you check your planishpere/maps/magazine charts etc.
Get a copy of Astronomy Australia 2007. In Bintel Melbourne, it's now selling for $15 (half the year is gone).
Here are my suggestions for your first targets in the evening - Jupiter, open cluster - The Jewel Box (NGC 4755) near Beta Crux, globular cluster - Omega Centari, the Carina Nebula (sky needs to be dark for this one), anything along the tail of Scorpius, look for open cluster NGC 6231. Also have a look for globular cluster M22 in Sagittarius. Then get up at 5am (!!) and have a look at M42, the Orion Nebula!
Happy viewing!
Eric
