Welcome to the Forum Richard. The kit lens that came with my original Digital Rebel was a pretty good lens for the extra $100. It use to be my main lens and it produces pretty sharp images. I haven't used it much since I got an L series lens, but it's still the widest normal lenst I have, so I will continue to use it until I get something else to replace it with, and that wont be anytime soon.

I have heard mixed reviews from people about the kit lenses, but for me, it has been a good workhorse lens, and I have been very happy with it.

As far as the XT and 30D go, they are both very good cameras from what I've read and heard. Personally I have never used either one of them. The best thing to do is to go to a camera store and get your hands on both of them, and see which one feels better.

To keep things as inexpensive as possible, you might consider the kit lens, and then get a set of extention tubes for macro work. The macro lens I use is the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro and I love it. It's very sharp and fast and I would recomend it for people interested in getting into macro shooting. I wouldn't get it to replace the kit lens tho because it's pretty long for some of the regular shooting I do, but it makes a nice companion lens to go with the kit lens.

There are TONS of choices out there, but you are the only one who can figure out what the right setup for you is going to be. For someone just getting started with a DSLR, I think the kit lens is a good place to start. Sure there are better lenses out there, but you have to start somewhere. You can always upgrade later, once you figure out what you want.