Do a few hours in GA, but consider RAAus if you want to fly more than a 'few' hours on your budget. IMHO.
The prices I got for RAAus solo hire (out of Archerfield) were ~$150-200/hour plus landing/aiways plus you had to be a financial RAAus member (
here's one link for $205/hour but it includes the $30 airways/landing fee). There was also a 5 hour GA->RAAus conversion needed (5 hours to convert backwards to recreational?). It's also not clear if the PPL training I've done counts towards RAAus ratings, so is cross country/CTA additional? Also, it seems that flying RAAus doesn't count towards keeping your PPL current (i.e. the 90 day 3 TO&L rule, but clearly the biennial flight review doesn't).
So there is at least one syndicate with a couple of C172s out of Archerfield which has a similar hire rate per hour but with a fair bit higher ongoing costs (more like $1300 pa instead of $200). But is actual GA and you can take 3 moderate mass pax (4 with reduced fuel).
So it's all not so straight-forward for me to understand.
Also, have a think about your next rating.
I understand what you are saying, totally. My brain was going Night-VFR. But the hole currently scorched in my pocket is telling me to hold off on that.