SuSE is a German Linux distribution that has the same sort of importance in Europe as RedHatLinux has in the rest of the world. Most seasoned users find it pretty awful as far as distros go. Its configuration tools interfere with manual tweaking a lot of the time, and the standard install doesn't include things like a compiler, make(1), locate(1) and others that really should be available on every "real" system. While you can ignore the config tools and remove all the automatisms, that certainly means no less work than setting yourself up on a less "puffy" distro.

It never had much of a following in New Zealand.

If you want a beginner friendly distro, Mandrake should be a much better choice. It is also one you're likely to find help with among WLUGgers.

CategoryDistribution