Purchased fares on CO from SYD may include the domestic QF segment, but the OP is right that when on an award, travel to/from CNS is on your own.

To clarify,the 25k award is valid to any CO destination west of HNL-- including Bali, HKG and Japan. As for best value, that's pretty much left to interpretation, but it may be interesting to hit some of the island spots you may never otherwise see (i.e. along the Island Hopper) instead of a place like Bali or Tokyo that you may possibly pass throgh at some future point. Just my thought.