Hamish is spot on there, Jamie. Alot of advice responces to your question on here in the past have been "if you cant afford a new good kayak, buy a second hand good kayak", and there is good reason for that. First of all a second hand hobie outback, is still a hobie outback, and if you decide to change yak/dont want to yak anymore they still fetch a fair bit of money second hand.
In saying that, i am happy with my kayak that from memory was around the $600 mark. If i had the spare money or patience to wait longer i wouldve gone with one of the higher end brands. I was out in some strong wind in a river in it today and pushed through it and made it back to the launch site ok. If i was in a 3m yak without a rudder it may have been a different story.
I went through melbourne kayaks (kayaks onlines melbourne outlet) and dealt with andrew, he took the time to teach me a few things and the kayak was at a competitive price.
Goodluck with choosing to buy a yak (theres so many options!)
Hopefully catch you on the water sometime
Tim
