Hi Nicola,

I'd highly recommend HART (Honda Australia Rider Training) in either Kilsyth or Sommerton to do a 2 day Learners course. They will give you enough theory to get you going and not overload you, as well as lots of practical riding experience on their training course. Check out their website:
Learner Permit Courses and Testing | Riders Club | Honda Motorcycles | Honda MPE

My wife and I are from Melbourne and are currently in the early stages of our around the world motorcycle honeymoon. We spent 1 month riding around Tasmania to test our bikes & gear to work out how well everything works in pretty much all road and weather conditions except snow! Currently we're in Melbourne for the next month while we finish getting parts and gear we need/want before we head off around the remainder of Australia before taking our bikes overseas.

I can't help you much with whether to ship your bike to London or buy there as we haven't done that, we bought our bikes here and are taking them around the world with us. We contemplated buying and selling bikes as we went but we thought it would be more of a hassle especially where time constraints come in with visa's etc so we decided to buy our bikes new and hope they hold up... Also this way we know exactly what the bikes have been through and the true service history etc.

If you jump onto Netrider (Australian motorcycle forums) and checkout the VIC section they often hold "Spanner Nights", which are casual get togethers to teach whoever shows up the basics of motorcycle maintenance. Often it is things like minor services (extremely handy) but can also be more specific like changing or bleeding brakes, fork seals etc.

If you're free anytime for a chat over the next month it would be great to meet you, and who knows may even see you on the road in Europe next year?

Azz and Jadey