Hi, Mary-Lyn, and welcome to the Perth club! As it happens, I can help with your query, because I have just ordered my Kindle. I've been swithering for weeks about whether to do it, and this forum has been astoundingly helpful. Renewed thanks to everyone in this thread for their patience in answering my questions. I will deffo report back when the Kindle arrives; unfortunately, the delivery estimate is between 8 and 21 December. Must be the Christmas rush.
Anyway, Mary-Lyn, the good news is that there's no extra duty for Australians to pay. I ordered the Kindle wi-fi at US$139, plus the power cable at $9.99 and a cover at $34.99; postage was $32.96, so the total is US$216.94. NB you have the option to pay in US$ or AU$ - I chose the US$ option, because the exchange rate they are using is worse than the one my credit card uses. Anyway, the bottom line is that it's cheaper than eBay.
You also asked about buying books. As I understand it, it's possible to get books for the Kindle from sources other than Amazon. There are squillions of posters here who know more about this than I do (not difficult!), but I came across this link elsewhere on this forum:
http://www.thekindleworm.com/search/...20get%20ebooks
That also might help with Pingu's concerns about future fluctuations in the exchange rate - especially the free e-books!
Thanks again to Pingu, Julie, Solicitous and Viviena for helping me to make my decision.
Kind regards
Alison