Thanks for all the responses. I didn't realize 6 months out was considered late in the game! I mean, for an economy award anyway, which I thought were readily available. I guess we'll have to book asap.
But the feedback is EXTREMELY helpful, and much appreciated!
Depending on the answer to my followup questions below, we will most likely do the stopover in a gateway city. If not, then the TN with stopover in Papeete will be our next choice.
So, quick followup question for ohioflyer:
You can have one stopover at a gateway city and one open jaw. So you could make Cairns your final destination with stopover (of whatever length) in Sydney.
Are you saying I can do the above if I got the oneworld award that you mentioned? Or was this in reference to my original request of using the AA 75000 partner award? I ask because it sounds exactly like what we would want to do.
And when you say make Cairns our final destination, does that mean I would have to buy a ticket from Cairns back to the US? Or do you mean it's the "final destination" for our flight there, on a roundtrip ticket.
p.s. Anyone actually know a good chiropractor in Papeete? ;-)