As a recent gold-status I would say that Skywards miles are absolutely useless unless you frequent the Dubai area. Of course, I am a US citizen. If you are an Aussie than you may actually want to do stuff there. If this is a one-off deal, I would definitely book under the CO Flight # and add to your pool there.

From what I have seen so far, their miles are 1) not very user-friendly to use outside the UAE and 2) Not a good value per mile.

I am only a Gold status right now b/c they are the best way for me to "commute" to work in Bangladesh from the US and my employer will not book under CO flight #'s b/c of pricing agreements.

Hope this helps!