Grampians should be your play ground
heaps of good wheeling up that way - and less water to worry about.
Legally you can can do 50mm of spring lift and 25mm increase in wheel radius - ie 75mm total lift without engineering it. Thats on Vicroads website.
Mine isn't legal but I'm in the process of arranging to have it engineered - I'm just struggling to get an engineer that will perform the lane change / swerve test.
I've spent a LOT of money on my lift and I'm very happy with the way it handles - I dare suggest it actually handles better than it did with the flogged out OEM suspension. HOWEVER a 2" lift will get you 99% of places. Do a search on the patrol4x4 site for posts by a guy called "Teabag". He had one of the most capable "tough" touring rigs I've ever seen with just 2" lift and 33" (equivilant) tyres.
Autos have a bit of lag - particularly noticable in diesels. But IMO an auto is a 4wders best friend. Especially for beginers. I priced up having mine converted to auto but it was a $13,500 job. Unfortunately the TD42T Y61 never came in an auto (at least not to Australia).
They may have rubbed on full lock but I dont think so - plus how often are you at full lock?
As for offset. I run standard nissan steel rims which I believe is +10 (so actually inset). 0 offset should be fine but I believe typically most people fitting sunnies go for a -13offset which actually moves the tyre out by 23mm (assuming that nissan standard offset is +10)
Most of my mates run 0 offset or -13 offset (one mate runs -22 offset with big flares). The -13s hang out noticably and throw heaps of mud down the side of the car - but its wide track. I personally dont need to be attracting any more attention to my car than what I already do with the lift so standard offset suits me fine
As for heading out for a play - sounds good to me. I'm just going to be off the road for a few weeks doing some maintenance (starter is rooted and so is my clutch and kingpin/wheel bearings after getting stuck in noolans brook). Least all the tracks should be opening soon!