Hi MGD, there sure is a difference rods accomodate for various water conditions, that's why most of us usually end up with 20 or 30 different rods.
Take a look at Stryker's line of drift rods:
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/stryker/castrods.htmlThe rods go from really small trout to big springs.
If you're looking for something that's at the entry level, Shimano Convergence or Fenwick HMX are pretty good bets. The price range is between 80 to 120. For reel, ABU 6500c3 is not bad and the price is reasonable.
If you are looking for rod and reel for the kids to use. I recommend to find something shorter, smaller, that can fit in the kids' hands.6 to 7 feet spinning rods are good to start with. For spinning reel, SHimano Sidestab is affordable and pretty reliable too. You might not be able to use this setup in the raging Fraser. But in the backwaters, you can use it for smaller fish species, or in lakes, etc.....
Hope this helps, I have to reread this again to see if it makes sense later on.