With your experience, the bullet, you shouldn't have a problem with the licence conversion.
I spoke to the faa a number of times, at length, about getting credit for my australian licenses and ratings. Unfortunately, no luck there, all they did was issue me a commercial single with the limitation that i couldn't take pax or cargo for hire or reward, just a private essentially.
Unfortunately for us we have to sit both the theory and flight exams for everything over here. The theory exams are relatively simple, compared to our australian ones.
The freedom of information act over here basicly means that the faa has to publish any question they might ask you in a theory exam. Therefore there are a number of companies that produce private, commercial and instrument rating question books. It's just a matter of getting these from a local flying school or pilot shop, studying, (learning the questions is probably a better term), and taking the theory test. The theory tests are done on computer and quite a few flying schools have these computer testing facilities. The tests will normally set you back around $70 american.
However, you need a sign off from an instructor saying that you are ready for the exam, just a formality really.
Once you have sat the theory exam you will be able to schedule a flight test with the local faa or an ato--designated examiner,de, they like to call here.
I would suggest finding a flying school or training organisation and explaining your situation to them. They should be able to help you out, and find an instructor to help you through the process. You will probably need some time in an airplane to familiarise yourself with the manoeuvres and procedures they like to see there, so you will probably have to fork out some cash, but hey do it with a decent company and you might get a job offer from them at the end.
To get ready for the flight test it is just a matter of getting to know the many 'differences' compared to flying in australia. It's not hard, just time consuming, and studying the FAR/AIM, (there equivalent of the CAOs, CARs and AIP).
Also the flight test formats are obviously a bit different, and the majority of examiners are big on the Practical Test Standards or PTS. These are performance standards published by the faa, and if you pick up copies of the pts for the licences your going for, they will specify the required knowledge and airwork standards you will need to meet. The pts are available from all flying schools, pilot shops etc..
Pick up a copy of the FAR/AIM and maybe the pts for commercial + instrument rating, and start going through their regs and way of doing things. Flying schools over there should be able to send them to you or take a look at sporty's pilot shop, not sure of the web address.
Don't bother going for your private, jump straight to the comm..i actually did the comm/instrument rating in one go. Flight instructors can basicly pick an choose there workplace here at the moment so i strongly suggest doing one, i'm not a huge fan of instructing but hey, it's a means to an end and i'm learning a helluva lot.
If you do decide to do one, don't bother with these $2-3000 courses you will see advertised here, it's a waste of cash and definitely not worth it. I suggest getting friendly with a decent instructor and you should be able to organise to do a rating for the cost of the airplane plus his or her lunch or a six pack each flight. Alot cheaper, and most of the expensive courses aren't worth the investment - your australian rating no doubt would have been more comprehensive.
Anyhow, hope that sheds some light on the topic for you, let me know if you need any more info. I went through the process last year and know how daunting and confusing it is!