Canada & England sea mail is minimum 3 months wait
standard airmail from Canada & England for smaller/lighter stuff is reasonably priced and usually takes less than 14 days but anything big/bulky or heavy is very expensive
Post from USA via USPS priority is always less than 14 days for me. You need to realise not all sellers will rush to the PO as soon as you have clicked 'paypal send payment' so that may explain why things can take longer.
First class airmail from USA can be hit and miss. Some times its the usual 14 days or less and sometimes it can be 3 or 4 weeks.
Airmail from Germany via 'Deutsche post welt packet' can be slow sometimes but usually under 3 weeks.
I have also had things from Italy, South Africa, Greece, Cyprus, Finland, France etc and they are all usually here with in 14 days.
Couriers such as DPD, DHL, TNT etc from Europe are very expensive but the stuff can be tracked very well and will arrive in under 10 days, depending on where you are in Australia and sometimes if it gets transfered to Australian Air express on a friday it will sit at their depot for the weekend and then only head out for delivery on the Monday.
I have never had any complaints with Australia Post. They seem pretty damn good and yes the $9 charge is from USA's end. I was told by AP its because of 911 and for extra costs in sorting the stuff we send once it gets there.