In reply to glaramara:
Haha - the forum is a bit shit, I will freely admit. Last year there were two pretty decent forums - mountainz and mojozone. Some strange politics happened and mountainz no longer exists and mojozone has recently been turned into the climber website I referred you to. Not all of the old users have switched over, sadly. I see your post, I'll respond and see if i can't spark a discussion.
In my experience (I'm NOT a kiwi, but I live here and have climbed all over) the MC grading scheme works a little like this:
MC 1: F
MC 2: PD
MC 3: AD
MC 4: TD-/TD
etc...
A supporting anecdote: Here in NZ, I've not climbed a route harder than a 3+ (for reasons outlined below). I was in Cham last year with a Kiwi who's done a few MC 5's and we did Fil a Plomb together (TD+?) - and he said it was way way more difficult than anything he had ever done in the mountains, anywhere.
Actual technical difficulties on the routes tend to not be the cruxes - actually getting to the route and then having the decent weather to complete it is the crux. The number of nights I've wasted in huts 'cause the weather is crap is scary. $100 will seem like nothing if you get over here and can't climb anything!
In all honesty, I think alpine climbing in NZ is a waste of time and money. UNLESS you live here and are in a position to rush in/out when the weather windows arrive. Then you can get something done, and it can be really good. There's no way I would travel here to climb. I live on the North island now, and there's no way I'd pop over to the South Island for some climbing. 19 times out of 20 it's been a waste of time and money when I have. I won't go alpine climbing on the south island anymore until I live down there (in a year or two). That was my extra two cents, which you didn't ask for.