Airfare for 6 months from US to Australia

A while ago I asked for strategies for finding a reasonable airfare (from the
US) for a stay of six months in Australia. Thanks to those who responded (the idea of an around the world ticket was very appealing). Now, I'm going to answer my own question.
I spent alot of time on the internet looking up airfares and could come up with nothing less than about US$2400pp. However, since my wife is getting her ticket partly paid for by her university, she was required to get quotes from a couple of travel agencies with which her school has contracts. One came up with
US$2300pp, but another called a consolidator and we now have tickets for US$700 less than that. Whoopie! Still expensive, but not the horrendous hit the higher figure would have been even with partial compensation.
I had heard that the internet was great for fares within the U.S., but that travel agents were better for international fares. Here is a prime example of this. But, buyer beware, only one agency found the very low fare.