I also thought long and hard about using my NW miles Toronto to Auckland, but Malaysia had no suitable dates for January which is when I am travelling....I paid $1200US for my open return ticket via EWR,Dubai and KUL, and from EWR, the ticket earns 31400 return, so its like paying less than 4¢/mile...instead of using up 80000 miles for an award ticket...
if affordibility is not a concern, a paid ticket is definetly a better deal than using miles....

keep in mind that the EWR-DXB-KUL route doesnt operate every day, and neither does the KUL-AKL flight...there are several options to minimize layover time, but dont expect smooth connections, i know, i tried...
and gave up and decided to spend a couple days in Dubai and KLumpur each, you can also get a stopover in Brisbane and/or Karachi (ok maybe not the best idea)