gday mate, best thing to do is get yourself a trainer kite ( or borrow or rent ) and practice the kite side of things , if you can surf / wakeboard the board skills will come naturally.

Get at least one or two lessons - to learn the safety side of things , kiting is fun and quite easy, but dont under estimate the power in these kites THEY CAN VERY EASILY KILL once you fly a 1-1.5m trainer kite you will have a better idea just how much power is in a 12 or 10m kite.

Once you have that sorted get yourself a 12m Bow/hybrid kite and a board ( could use an old surfboard to start with if the $$ is a bit tight at the moment )

You should be able to pick up a 12m kite.... say an 08 Cabrinha Switchblade/ Slingshot REV (are the two I would recommend as both have proven track records ) for about 600- 800 possibly less. Harness $100 -150 second hand (- $250 new )

Dont buy any kite pre 2005/6 as the safety features have come a long way since then

if you count down 14 threads you will get all the info that you require