The end game (ship or sell?)

I havent started yet, Im still 3 monts away but I did tell my boss that I am quitting and will be moving to Australia. Its really time to start putting my money where my mouth is. So, whilst avoiding strenuous training (note the lack of posts about riding lately) my mind has turned to the myriad other parts of the trip. Today I have mostly been thinking: what am I going to do when I hit my destination?

Once I finish out on the west coast I will choose either to jettison my gear, chiefly the Trek, or decide to ship it over to Melbourne. Whilst shipping will be expensive, I think its going to be more cost efficient than selling the bike in a fire sale and then buying a new one in Oz. The question is, how to send it...

Seems to be a toss up between FedEx/UPS and dedicated bicycle shipping services. A root around the internets has found a few good starting points that I will investigate further on the road:

http://www.adventurecycling.org/features/shippingbikecases.cfm
http://www.bikeflights.com/bicycle_shipping.aspx
http://www.shipbikes.com/International.html

Shipbikes also can sell decent bike boxes. I have to weigh up how much packaging (and insurance) will be needed to send the bike without incurring risk of damage. Dont want any dents in the frame (or worse).

In fact these articles have helped provide some good background on previous peoples attempts at shipping
http://www.bicycle-touring-guide.com/bicycle-shipping/
http://lovelybike.blogspot.com/2012/06/shipping-bicycles-delicate-matter.html
http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/2010/Yosemite_Trekker/Post_060310.html (pic from this page below)

I think for now this is about as much as I will look into it. As long as the cost is something around $500 this will be the way that I will go. Selling the bike on craigslist at the end of the journey for next to nothing would not be the nicest way to end the trip!