Hard to go past a nice fat 8ft mini mal when you are starting out and it will be soooo easy to sell on if you ever decide to go smaller. I would suggest perhaps around 8ish x 22 1/2 ish x at least 2 1/2. You should be able to pick up a second hand aussie board in good condition for I reckon 400-500 bucks and obviously less as the quality or age of the board dictate. shop around and I guarantee you will stumble onto something that will suit. DO NOT be tempted to go a bit smaller so you can "grow into it" - boards in the 7 to 8ft range suck when you are starting out and no matter how good the deal seems you will hate it.

Thanks alot for the advice!

I'll be on the lookout for some boards, hopefully I'll be able to find one when I hit the shops later on this week.

I have got one on ebay at the moment, perfect board for you, its located in Gippsland but can meet you in melb,it seems to be going very cheap at the moment. Its the Wayne Deane and if you gave me 300 i would be happy, its like new.