"Difficult to get" may be the understatement of the year. I honestly believe the QF F redemptions are now so difficult to obtain that it's borderline false advertising for AS to offer this award level at all. I spent months calling the partner desk for just a single first class seat on QF LAX-SYD. When they asked what my travel dates were, I would ask to search ANY day starting tomorrow through the end of the schedule.

Not only did I never find any seats, every agent I talked to said that they had never booked a QF First award.

Later I found out that the only realistic way to book QF F was to jump on award availability when it was released at exactly 355 days out. But then AS "enhanced" their web-based award booking system and can only book awards 330 days out. They claim this was an improvement.

The only way to book QF F is to be vigilant checking the award calendar - as in, check every day. As best I can tell, Qantas releases up to 2 seats at a time. 0, 1, or 2 of those seats will be available when AS can book them at 330 days out. If and when you find availability, BOOK IT. Never dawdle or wait hoping something better comes up.

I would also reconsider whether business class is acceptable. It IS possible to find QF J to Sydney, although more often than not it will be a connecting flight in MEL or BNE. And although CX offers a first class redemption to Australia, only the portion from North America to Hong Kong operates a first class cabin. It is only business class between HKG and SYD.

KE also has an excellent business class product (including A380 service) and would be a fine carrier to Australia via Seoul. You may consider a combination of carriers depending on availability and your desired travel dates as all of these offer one-way tickets now, although CX availability is still not displayed online; you must call in to request CX awards.