We may think we have it bad here, but Obamanomics have barley kicked in. We WILL wish for the good old days, like now, very soon I'm afraid.
Damn, feel for you guys, nothing but praise for all my purchases from HK, have had parcels arrive in 2 days Hong Kong to Canberra, ordered Friday late evening and delivered to my front door Monday morning, faster than getting stuff from the Australian warehouse 150 kms away. Here in Australia as long as the declared value is under AUD$1,000 there is no duty payable, RC modelers heaven if you ask me, just brilliant.
Man you ARE lucky. Spain used to have a similar policy some 10 or 12 years ago (not sure what the minimum value was before you had to pay duties), but the conservative party in power here now changed the law on that and THEN some. BTW @PeteDee; just want to mention I was in your neck of the woods some years back (well, kinda. I was on the West coast in Margaret River, near Perth) and just loved the countryside. Couldn't believe what I saw in the night sky...the Milky Way, other galaxies beyond...what a trip!!