Thank you and ipster for your input.

I like (surprise, surprise) adventure. I seek entirely different stuff to my humdrum office life in Sydney.
My best memories are of dirt roads, horse-drawn carts, no electricity, sleeping under the stars in the desert....

I'll probably skip Honolulu.

A price war on US-AUS fares is predicted for 2016. Circa 1k-return to mainland USA.

For the same coin, I'd probably rather do NY + California + Southern USA + Disneyland.