As another option have you considered flying into Seattle and then using bus transport to get to Vancouver which is only about 250 kms. Hawaiian Airlines flies to SEA from SYD (via Hawaii). Doing a sample booking on their website around the dates you provided, I was able to get a return price of approximately $AUD2500. Itinerary was for SYD-HNL-OGG-SEA on 19/12, SEA-HNL on 02/01/12 and HNL-SYD on 09/01. As US carriers go, Hawaiian is supposed to be pretty good and is one of the few remaining airlines to offer complimentary hot meals between Hawaii and the West Coast. I'm sure you are aware that Christmas time is very popular in the Aloha state, so be sure of available accommodation before booking any airline flights. As an aside, I have travelled to California twice in the past two years and on both trips I included a side-trip to Honolulu. Both times I found it cheaper to book the MEL-SFO segment on one ticket and the SFO-HNL on another. As I travelled on United between California and Hawaii, which only offers Buy-on-board, I took my own food onto all flights.
Good luck.
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