I didn't realise I had any replies on this thread and thought nobody cared about me! but I was wrong. Thanks everyone for your help, you guys rock!
What I ended up doing in the absence of your advice (ok so really it was ignorance or blindness because the advice was here all along) was buying a factory second from the US and having it delivered to my address in Niseko. It's a Burton Process (162), yeop completely and utterly mainstream, I know. But I have no experience and haven't tried anything myself so went with a general crowd pleaser, for a first board I think it will be great. I love