Yeah it is a bit of a struggle to find supplies around here too.
But I'm lucky because near my house is an irrigation supply store which sells the pipe and connectors.
The connectors are around 30 cents a piece.
I don't know about anywhere online to by the supplies but i would suggest looking in the yellow pages for irrigation stores in you area. You will probably have to go to an industrial area, as they tend not to be in residential or commercial districts.

I have had little luck in the tape department as well. I have been meaning to buy some things from identi tape for a while but I have never gotten around to it.

There are a few things that you can use instead of the fancy tape from identify tape. I use plain electrical tape; I have found that the brand sold a super cheep auto is good. For sparkles and other interesting colours I buy book covering contact and cut it in to long strips (this stuff is fragile so it is good to put a layer of clear tape on top).

Any way I hope this helps a little.
Good luck.
And let us know how you go.

Jane

Hoopmaking is addictive, isn't it? :-)

I had a hard time finding connectors, too. I ended up buying a length of tubing whose diameter was slightly smaller than the hoop tubing (so that it just fit inside), cutting it into lengths of a few centimetres, then using Loctite to glue each connector into the hoop tubing. It worked really well for me and the join was smooth.

As for tape, batons.com.au sell a range of tapes suitable for hooping. I've ordered a few rolls from them and their service and prices are pretty good. Amco (as mentioned above) is quite expensive, though their tape is of good quality and they have colours/designs that batons.com.au don't have.

If you're making a large quantity of hoops, though, identi-tape.com is actually better value per metre of tape than the two Australian sites I mentioned above, even taking into account the cost of shipping and the exchange rate. I have the Excel spreadsheet to prove it! ;-)