Please forgive me if this is posted in the wrong thread or was answered somewhere I didn't search, as I'm still somewhat of a newbie.

I am trying to plan a trip with my significant other in late fall/early winter, either to Australia/New Zealand or to Thailand (likely the first). As flights to Australia are obviously extremely expensive, I am wondering if there is a way to try to fund my trip on miles somehow. I currently have an American Airlines personal credit card (also a Hilton and Hyatt), but no other airline rewards credit cards at this time.

I'm trying to look into this now, and I am willing to open a couple cards (so is my SO) to fund the flight for free. We aren't huge credit card spenders, so any cards that you have to hit a really high spending goal (e.g. 10k or 20k) will not work for us.

I'm hoping someone has done this before and can share a little information with me. I am looking for (1) what airlines even fly to Australia and (2) the cheapest possible way for me to do this trip. Also, any other advice is appreciated, as it will be my first time.

Thank you in advance for all your help