GeoUSA

I had a similar trip back in February/March 2013. I booked with http://www.kayak.com because of the friendly multi-stop interface. In the end I booked Air New Zealand (ANZ) through Orbitz using Kayak. Doing it again, I would have booked directly with the airline.

Orbitz didn't show that some of the flights were actually United instead of ANZ. The itenerary I received still showed ANZ when it was actually United. The amenities offered by United (including the non-stop flight back from Sydney to LA) were not as nice as those we enjoyed on the one segment with ANZ.

We chose a 9 hour layover in Honolulu on the trip out from LA, rented a car, and enjoyed the break.

Keep in mind you lose one day from USA to AUS/NZ and gain it back on the return trip.

Just returned from a recent cruise and wanted to thank everyone who recommended taking an outlet strip. On the ship it was helpful (the HAL Oosterdam had 3 outlets in my cabin), but in a Sydney hotel my USA outlet strip was very useful. It expanded my single converter to power numerous devices.