Plenty of awareness, the Ptolemids were from the northern Mediterranean, they were Macedonians. The feuding between the successor states included plenty of northern Mediterranean states--the Ptolemids were allied with the Lysimachids and fought with the Antigonids for control over the Aegean. Depending on the period the Ptolemids controlled islands and cities way up in Ionia and the north Aegean.

Even if we limit this to the northwestern part of the Mediterranean, as far as you can get from Egypt without leaving the Mediterranean, the Ptolemids still had plenty of knowledge about that part of the world. The Ptolemids and their administrators were some of the best-educated people in the history of the world up until that point, and the trade-links and communications with the rest of the world from Alexandria were remarkable. Everything went through Alexandria--the reason the Library became so well-known was in part because there was a royal ordnance in Alexandria that all books passing through the port had to be copied by royal scribes. And Alexandria was the largest shipping center in the world--the conclusion is obvious.

To answer the precise questions you asked here, the answer to both of them is a resounding "yes." Cleopatra was only ten years old at the end of Caesar's consulship, but she undoubtedly knew about the Gallic War--it was the largest war being fought at the time, and Caesar's accomplishments were truly phenomenal, he was talked about throughout Roman society. Even if somehow Cleopatra didn't find out about them while they were going on, she did later in life--I mean, she lived in Rome for some time. She was living there when Caesar was murdered. The Macedonians, Seleucids, and Ptolemies were all very active in the political dramas during the period of the Punic Wars. I mean, the Carthaginians traded for tin in Britain, and the Ptolemies were neither exactly unknown to the Carthaginians nor particularly poor sailors (having the largest and most powerful navy in the eastern Mediterranean would certainly help). So that should give us some indication of the extent of their connections with the Mediterranean, which was hardly so foreign as Britain.

Now, there is another side to the question. The rulers undoubtedly had extensive contact with all parts of the Mediterranean throughout the period of Ptolemid rule. It's patently absurd to suggest otherwise. But what about the ordinary people? After all, the Greek elite was a relatively thin veneer--outside of Alexandria and a few other Greek cities most people were the same as those living under the Pharaohs and had fairly similar lives. Certainly they knew that the western Mediterranean existed, but it's hard to say how much they knew. The priesthoods must have, they were literate after all. And Egyptian contact with the western Mediterranean began quite early--at Kadesh, Ramesses' personal bodyguard was composed of Sardinians (according to Breasted--I think there's some conjecture about whether they may have been from Lydia) and some of the Sea Peoples are thought to have been from Sardinia or even further west.