Should I get the expensive telescope or not? What should I do?

Let me be honest, I had a friend who bought a beginner's scope and then later on bought an expensive one for a couple of hundred NZD. He found it really fun and all but after a while he lost interest and didn't look at the stars at night that often because it got very repetitious and not very interesting. BUT, If buying the telescope makes you happy and you can afford it, then by all means GO FOR IT!!! P.S. He got very excited when he saw planets through his telescope.

I suggest that you join an astronomy club where you can talk to other amateurs that own various types and sizes of telescopes and have the opportunity to look through them at club star parties, which are usually on weekends at new moon.

1) If at all possible get to your local astronomy club and look through a few telescopes (Google local astronomy club) 2) beginners often expect colourful bright views like the Hubble space telescope photo's, if so you will be SO disappointed. 3) a small (starter) telescope will show you the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn, that's all, 4) to see nebulae you need an 8" (200mm) dobbo, minimum, 12" is better. 5) 7X50 binoculars will show you more objects than a cheap scope. 6) You need a heavy tripod and an accurate motor driven equatorial mount for astrophotography (not a dobbo) 7) You are right to spend good money rather than waste it on a starter scope then upgrade, not sure what you will get for that money, not sure what a $Aus is worth, I'm in the UK 8)Aperture is everything

Umm, hard to answer, when I was your age I did the same thing. I put down a deposit on a Meade ETX125 (just released at the time), but canceled at the last minute and bought a Meade LX-10. Cost me the same amount of money, I lost some electronic magic but I gained an extra 3" of aperture, and in astronomy APERTURE RULES. In Oz I'm guessing you've got pretty dark skies (although I have no idea where you live), but in a world of ever growing light pollution, I'd go for it, trust me you wont regret it. Don't be too drawn in by all the electronic gadgets on modern telescopes. When I was at University our observatory had 3 x 16" LX200's & a 14" Celestron but as it was just 20 miles North of London I'm convinced that my little 8" scope was just as good from a darker sight. If you can afford to get more aperture for your money then do it, don't fall for marketing hype.