Good buy for a beginner for no more than AU$500

Question
Hi Patrick, I live in Melbourne, Australia and am looking to get into windsurfing. I had a lesson last week and loved it, the new boards are great, so buoyant and stable than I remember 20+ years ago. I want to get a board to practice on but the new stuff is way out of my price range (AU$1700 - AU$2800) in Australia at the moment so I am looking at buying a second hand outfit for no more than AU$500. I saw your advice to buy something no more than 5-6 years old but cant seem to find anything suitable in my price range. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Regards, Steve

Answer
Hi Steve,
Here in the states we have Craigslist which is a website organized by city for locals to list anything they want to sell and here in Florida, windsurfers are many times available on this website.  There are also websites here that sell used equipment such as windsurfingclassifieds.com.  It is not easy to go this route but you need to be patient. Try to find all the websites in Australia that may offer these same services.  Check with retail board shops to see if they have used equipment for sale.  Look for windsurfing swap meets where locals get together to sell their used equipment.  
Good Luck and toss another shrimp on the Bahbie for me!