I've only got about $200 to spare right now. I need a hard chair mat (plastic, most likely) to go on carpet and a chair that'll withstand me putting my legs up on the desk and leaning back. I'm in Perth.
Suggestions?
The amazing story behind why I need one, you'll be sorry wasted your time reading it:
I've been putting off getting a proper hard chair mat for a while and instead using a spare piece of carpet as a mat. The carpet below the mat isn't as bad as it would have been, but it's still worse for wear.
I've also been using an el cheapo Big W roller chair and it finally gave way to my tendency to lean back and put my legs up… it isn't a leaning-back chair and the arm-seat-back brace at the side snapped (frankly I'm impressed it lasted as long as it did, I put a lot of pressure in directions the chair wasn't designed to handle).
Ikea have plastic chair mats for $40 which do the job for me
http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/90176245/
As for a chair you want to be able to kick back on, might be tricky to find a new one of decent quality within your budget. Might be worth checking out Grays/Gumtree/eBay to see if there's any second hand heavy duty office chairs? I picked up my current office chair at an office refurb/relocation sale, not real stylish but very sturdy.