If you transfer your address and become a Canadian AA member then the same award will only cost you 37,000 miles which is a good saving. A normal business award to Oz is 100,000 miles which IMO is well worth it especially compared to QF.

BTW, can anyone say for sure how many miles is needed to upgrade a "Y" ticket to biz from North America to Australia via HKG and post the appropriate link? I seem to be having problems finding it on Cathay's webpage.