If you are flying to HKG in August, UA most certainly prices it out as a peak season fare. Occasionally, you can fly UA to SIN with a free stopover in HKG at a lower fare than going only to HKG.

There are no secrets to finding a good fare during August, which explains some of the responses to your original thread. You either search online with the various travel and airline sites or you open up the NYT Sunday Travel section and call a few consolidators.

$900 or so in August is not unreasonable...if you want to fly an airline where the frequent flier miles are worth something

And forget about getting a cheap deal from HKG to SYD. HKG is not a cheap market for airfares. An alternative is to fly to TPE, then buy a ticket to Australia from TPE and get a free stopover in HKG with Cathay Pacific.