Thanks everyone for the replies.

I was hoping someone would say something like, "Didn't you know that NZ is now a WP partner and they have R/T SEA-SYD for $1400 in C?" but I guess that was too much

I like magic111's (and others) idea about booking NW to SIN or NRT and then taking something else from there. I really don't want to do award tix, because I want the miles. SEA-SIN would still let me hit Plat by year end, and then I could burn the miles to SYD on MH. Hmm.

This has given me something to think about. Any other ideas?

-alan in seattle