That last photo is amazing! I've always been interested in trying to do a photo like that where you combine a cluster of long-exposure photos. I have a decent camera, Nikon D7000. Just need to learn to use it. I don't feel like the stock lens is very good and the flash washes photos out so bad. So definitely some upgrades needed.
obviously the last photo is without flah... :)
Actually, I think you should consider knowing better your camera before upgrading, in most case it is possible to do decent shot with kit lens (I had to shoot recently some photos at an event and actually the kit lens wasn't too bad... and some post-processing)