Married and wanting to get our travel out of the way prior to the kids. All dates flexible.

Ideally I'd like to travel to SYD early 2014 from east coast via biz/first class. I have the hotel point scheme down, and have no trouble understanding it. I've invested a pretty good amount of time looking into the award schemes, and am still struggling. However, the award tickets remind me when I took probs & stats....on steroids.

From what I gather it seems that to get to SYD, Delta or Sky Team offers the best solution. However, I have no idea how to book award tickets on other airlines...no matter how much i read. Does one just book through Delta or through the other member?

Also, sometime in late 2014 or early 2015 looking to go to GIG in biz or first.

Here is my/wife point rundown, all collective:

Delta - 140k miles
United - 110k miles
AA - 75k miles
US airways - 75k miles

We are trying to ramp up on our miles through CCs...I know how to work those. Also, we have about 30k in spend coming up this year in home remodeling. Idea is to use Chase Bold to buy Home Depot GCs (5x) to pay for what we can, and AMEX to pay for appliances (warranty).

Here is current CC line up
Amex Plat (105k MRs in the bank)
Delta Amex Gold
Chase CSP and Freedom (about 80k URs)
Citi AA Amex

Next AOR:
Citi AA Visa (50k)
Chase United (50k + 5k signup)
Chase Bold (50k)
Barclays US Airways (40k)

In any event, I enjoy the puzzle and figuring all this stuff out. However, I think I am over my head here, cant seem to crack this one. I am not adverse to getting points on other FFs to achieve all this.

Any guidance greatly appreciated.