Yeah mate, decisions decisions... As you probably read between the line everything 'suspension' is a bit an unknown for me. So all your advice is heaps appreciated. Thanks again! What I do feel with suspension is pretty much the 'softness' and 'deep diving' behaviour of the rear when travelling with luggage... Doing upgrade work on it myself would end in certain desaster though.

This Saturday I will meet the guys in Wallacia to get the rear upgraded and their opinion / cost estimate for the front. I guess it's one of those things: there is a million ways to upgrade your travel bike into perfection. But budget is another big point here and currently I am not convinced that the improvement for a front suspension upgrade is value for money in my situation...

Can a front suspension upgrade really make such a huge difference? Difference in handling or also difference in terms of it lasting for longer on bad roads?

Well set up suspension brings many benefits, the bike handles much better and more predictably, this inspires confidence, increases enjoyment and reduces fatigue. The bike and yourself have a much easier time as do the tyres. If (when?) things do go wrong good suspension helps you out of trouble, bad suspension gets you in it.
I feel it's one of the most important and effective mods you can do to a bike, if you do dig deep into your pocket I don't think you'll be disappointed, I'd be interested to know what you do and what you think about it.

Absolutely. And not to mention how much more enjoyable it will be to ride too. Instead of fighting your way through the tough stuff you'll be cruising through it giving you and your bike an easier time..not to mention a big grin! The easier it is to ride the more adventurous you'll be with it.

Okay, all done!!! Thanks for your input guys!

I spent a couple of hours with the Terry and Grant from 'Shock Treatment' yesterday and they too convinced me to do something about the front end. And all of you who said it's worth spending some money on it were right - I had a big grin on my face all the 70km home from the suspension place back to Sydney!
What we did: we replaced the original 6.5kg/mm stock rear spring with a 9.0kg/mm one, the rear shock got revalved and we also replaced the .40kg/mm stock front springs by .70kg/mm ones, leaving the original front shocks untouched.
It is quite a big upgrade but considering my own 85kg weight + the 30l long range fuel tank + touring luggage it works out just fine.
The handling of the bike now is much more responsive. The front end does no longer dip down heaps when using the front brake, the whole 'softness' of the rear end disappeared and taking corners seems so much easier.

And - the rear end is no longer pushed down by the weight of the luggage to a degree that the side stand doesn't work...

Maybe it's just a psychological thing but yeah, it is heaps fun. I will take it on a test run on a bumpy trail soon and see how that goes.