On a OWE you can go Europe - Australia - Asia - North America - Europe provided you go directly Europe - Australia without stopovers in Asia. When you return to Asia from Australia you get your stopovers and intracontinent flight segments as per the normal rules.

As for westbound RTW's, I find them more survivable than eastbound ones in spite of the longer flying times. For me, the westbound time shifts are easier to handle. This is clearly individual.