We are finding NZ and Australia very difficult now with FF miles.

Frank is right about Virgin Australia.This was quite a while ago. We has Qantas tickets but wanted to change dates. No way on Qantas. Someone mentioned Virgin Australia (maybe Frank) and we had not looked at Virgin Australia before or even realized they flew there and we were surprised to find availability there. We ended up staying with our original plans so did not use Virgin Australia but I had never even thought about that airline. Another good choice to consider.