Thanks for the advice guys. I'm gonna keep looking into it. Wreckers would definitely be a good option
and just btw, Truffles, I personally found the autos are going a fair bit cheaper than manuals. Often 2-3 grand. Yes, if your price guide is right, this doesn't make it a money saving venture at all, unless I find a particularly cheap auto. I wanted a good base of a car to last me for a a few years (I wanted low km's), and would settle for a car that wasnt exactly what I was looking for. Im quite happy to get my hands dirty and work on it myself to get it the way i wanted. This was the car I had my eye on:
http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales/!dealer_content.dealer_vehicle?vehicle_id=9855983¤t_rec=4&total_rec=10&sort_type=1&dealer_id=12510&make_id=5
I know what you're thinking. Sounds too good to be true? At that price and km's, I'm a bit suss of it myself. But if i could make an auto-manual conversion viable, then this may (after getting it inspected and milage verified as much as possible) be a good car as a base to work on over the next few years. (till Im off my P's )
Oh and sorry, I didnt know i could search for forum topics. Spent a couple of hours scanning page after page looking for a topic on this. I feel like a bit of an idiot, haha. Still new to SAU.