Just ordered a schematic for a 1952 Super Shuffle machine... with the emailed invoice came an apology for the postal cost.
Seems US international posting had an increase of 58.6% on 27/1/13.

Thats a heck of a hike!

Have you tried Borderlinx http://www.borderlinx.com/  or any other freight forwarder?
 I'm not sure if there prices are any better but they can be handy if your buying multiple items from different suppliers in the US or UK. When you sign up (its free) they assign you a US and UK address so you can buy from places that normally wont ship to Australia. They will also hold your purchases (for up to a month I think?) until you ask them to send. The advantage here is that if your ordering from different places they will get all of your stuff together and repackage it all into one package saving you money when they send.
 You'll see on there web page that they have affiliated stores but you can buy from anywhere and use there frieght service. I signed up for an address a couple of weeks ago but haven't used them yet so i'll let everyone know how they perform when I do.