Just thought i'd chime in on this... most people over here in Aus, especially in my club anyway, fly with pheonix classic high wing trainers. they are very durbale and can withstand a beating.
price is very cheap to set up in aus too. in australian prices your looking at
Classic trainer $70-80
Os 46ax $150
Hitec Flash 5 with reciever and servos $200
so thats $420-430 and all you need to do is add fuel and a glow starter.

Also you may think the ax is over the top for power, you can also use a much cheaper la... but this is a plane you can start off learning on, but will let you move onto aerobatics as you progress, even the best people in our club fly with these for mucking around, even our 3 time australian pattern champion flys out our club with one of these due to being cheap and durable, him and a few others at the club including myself set them up with 46 ax's and similar powered motors and can hover them, knife edge, ive been able to get it in a flat spin, full power blenders, tourque rolls, unlim verticle, so this plane is good for learning on, and also progressing, i reckon i could just about fly basic imac with it its such a good plane, and balanced out right needs almost no elevator for rolling. We currently have about 40-50 flying in our club as muck arounds, we even have up to 6 at a time just for a bit of fun chasing each other round with one plane having a streamer on it. these planes are becoming more popular and are now going to a 2 for $... or 3 for $... Deals now, they got multi buys in a way.... hope this helps as a suggestion, Thanks dav0012.... Pheonix classic "(trainer)" <-- pfft WAY BEYOND!!!! :P