Well, as for the STYLE/TYPE of rifle, the turnbolt is the quentissential hunting action, for good reason. Reliable in all weather conditions, strong, quick follow up, classic looks, light weight, & accurate.
As for caliber, yep your friend is right - .30-06 is a great choice; probably the best choice, although there are many others to choose from too - that's a whole can of worms. But the .30-'06 Springfield caliber is NEVER a mistake.
As for the rifle choice, there are a multitude of good makers of turnbolts: Remington, Zastava mausers from Remington, Winchester, Savage, Stephens by Savage, Browning, T/C, Mossberg, Howa, CZ, Sako, Tikka, Steyr, Kimber, custom jobs, sporterized milsurps, & others.
What's the budget? would be the key question there. Options and variables you'll want to consider, other than price, are stock fit, including stock length of pull, stock material (wood, laminated wood, plastic, fiberglass), and if wood, type of wood & finish on wood, stock style, (monte carlo, cheek pad, etc.), stock bulkiness/width, stock extras (checkering, engraving, pistol grip endcaps, stock forend caps, schabel forend, etc.), safety type (2-pos or 3-pos?, forward-on or forward-off), safety location, barrel length, barrel contour, crown type, action steel type of receiver & barrel (carbon vs. stainless steel), and finish (gloss blued, matte blued, satin stainless, brushed stainless, etc.), iron sights vs. clean, come with mounts installed or not, and availability of mounts, bolt throw angle, push vs. controlled feed, locking lug number, style, & thickness, action smoothness, overall fit/finish/quality, overall weight, recoil pad or not, and extras like pillar and/or glass bedding, action truing, etc.
As for where to buy:
-Used: Gun shows, pawn shops, out of the local classified ads or Postaroo, through your FFL off of internet auction sites like gunbroker, consignment & used guns at gun shops, etc.
-New: Gun shows, gun shops, internet auction sites, big box stores like Academy, Walmart, BassPro, Cabelas, Dick's, Gander Mountain, Sportsman's Warehouse, etc.
I'm not looking for anything fancy just affordable and functional.
But, since you said that, you could do what I did, and just go to a few gun shows & pawn shops, find a sporterized U.S. model of 1917 (aka P17 Enfield), in .30-06, for around $150, then put a good scope & rings on it for around $250 more, a good sling for another $20, and off you go! Won't find a much better elk-slayer.
Good luck.
Beyond that, if buying new, on a really tight budget, look at the Mossberg 100 ATR or the Stephens by Savage. Or for a little more, a regular Savage or a Mossberg "4x4" rifle. On a really, REALLY tight budget, grab a single shot rifle by NEF or Rossi.