Stephen,
Your camera will have been supplied bundled with a free raw convertor software package, Nikon Picture Project. Although it may not be the most powerful of tools, it will be enough to allow you to convert your raw files to jpegs on the PC just as though you'd been shooting in-camera jpegs.
Photoshop Elements is cheap, surprisingly powerful, supports Adobe Camera Raw (as a separate plugin) and offers a whole lot more than just raw conversion. I have to say, I'm not that impressed by Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) as a raw converter, but I haven't used the latest versions - which are apparently much improved. ACR is however, a good package for a beginner, with an intuitive interface which allows you to get the hang of tweaking the various settings before you get yourself something better
A couple of threads below yours, you'll find a thread dedicated to Nikon NX, this really does seem to be the converter of choice for Nikon users. Personally I use Phase One's Capture One, more information for how to get a copy here:
http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...ead.php?t=3011
though I don't know if Sandisk/pic-stop are still doing the free licence.
Whichever package you decide on, once you've got the hang of raw, you'll never go back. I used to be a die-hard jpeg shooter unitl I discovered that the software that came bundled with my camera allowed me to do a raw-jpeg conversion on the PC just as though I'd been shooting jpegs in the camera. From this point, I shot exclusively raw and started slowly learning how to tweak the raw files rather than a straight conversion.
Hope this helps.
Duncan