I think I'll start by doing my research, and maybe investing in some solid stocks (I'm thinking tech, like Google), or the big banks.
Just an idea to throw at you (feel free to throw it right out!).
You're just 'getting into' shares, right? And it's going to be a side thing for you, at least for now (like it is for most people).
My suggestion (again, do what you think best with it!) is this:
Instead of, "I'll start by doing my research..." make it, "I'll start by doing my research into
how I'm going to do my research". Whether or not you do the second bit (buy some stocks for fun) is irrelevant to my idea - just do whatever you think is best (it's obviously worked so far!).
So what I'm suggesting is to think about the fact that lots of successful people invest and trade in lots of different ways. Different reasons for buying, for selling, for holding period, for risk management etc. Now make it your educational pursuit to find out
a little about those various ways.
You're already aware of finance and investing generally, and now you're narrowing to the stock market. Okay, so go and quickly learn the basics (what is a share, why do companies list, what does ex-dividend mean). I mean go and get a quick intro guide. Might as well invest a couple hours into the basics.
Even take a short detour into other asset classes. What about commodities (and futures?) Forex? Again, quick intro stuff to get your bearings.
Now the fun stuff.
Realising that lots of people are successful via different means, go and find some educational material (but not too much) on various methods.
Maybe go and research amazon to find out a list of 10 books that are real market classics of various schools of thought (value investing, trend following, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, statistical approaches, psychology of trading, money management etc).
And after a few classics by the well known authors, maybe a few others here and there (Aussie authors, books in a certain area that you find interesting).
Great!
Maybe something appeals to you. Say you like trend following and/or system based approaches. You might then go and get some educational resources from someone in that area. You might have a desire to learn more about futures and short term trading - go and get some education from a successful person in that field. You might like a fundamental/technical analysis approach, so dig a bit deeper on that. Just research your educators a bit to sort the good from the bad and learn a bit more in depth in the area that seems to work for you.
Then, rather than asking something like, "is BHP a good buy right now?" you'll ask, "does BHP meet my criteria in my plan?" - whatever those criteria are, and whatever your plan may be.
Obviously one of my biases is towards education. You might prefer to learn in a different way.