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Striker,
Here in the US we have a fairly large and homogenous market for astro gear. Putting things into perspective, there are more people living within 150 miles (or 250 Kilometers) of my store in Philadelphia than there are in Australia. That's not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination, it's just a statistic.
Keeping that statistic in mind for a moment, one could easlily understand why US based websites are tuned to quote domestic shipping rates as opposed to worldwide rates. There were at least 142 member countries in the United Nations the last time I checked, and that's a lot of different shipping rate data to keep track of. The broader world may rely on Parcel Post for deliveries, but here in the US we expect either Federal Express or UPS. This is one of those weird consumer preferences issues, as parcel post is generally cheaper yet equally reliable here in the US as well. As we say here in America, go figure...
Hopefully the global express rates I provided here earlier today will be of some use to you and your mates down under. In a perfect world, we would all spend more time looking up at the sky than we would chasing the best deal on an eyepiece.
Best Regards,
Bob
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