Rock climbing, hitch hiking, and crazy weather

Well, things here in NZ are going great. I've had chances to do so many different things in such a short time here. I am writing from an internet cafe in Lake Wanaka at the base of Mt. Aspiring national park and the Remarkables range. It has been a wild ride the last week, and the weather has a lot to do with it. Four days ago we were planning on climbing Mt. Aspiring and we were just waiting for another good day. Mt. Aspiring is a classic New Zealand climb and a very technical one due to the glaciers surrounding it and the tempremental weather that blows in off the coast. As we woke up the next morning we realized that the weather would be bad on the peak and we should do something else in the area. A Candian that I met down here, also named Alan, and I headed out to go rock climbing in the area. What a day! We did eight routes, and as the day progressed the wind got worse. On the last climb of the day the wind was nearly pulling Al off the rock (The pieces of protection he placed still would have caught his fall, but it was scary still). From there my travel buddy and I realized that we wouldn't be climbing the peak until this bad weather moved off the peak so we hitched a ride toward the Routeburn Track, a classic New Zealand backpacking trail. We landed in the small town of Glenorchy after hitching two rides in the rain. After a great meal in a cozy little pub we slept in a bunkhouse cabin for the night. As we woke up we saw the BEAUTIFUL mountains around covered in snow. This snow had made the route impassible and the department of conservation closed the route. Plan C. At this point we were soaked so we decided to hitch back to Queenstown and Wanaka in search of decent weather. once back in Wanaka I took a hike up a nearby peak and enjoyed the sunset at our camping spot. So here we are again, waiting on the weather to climb the peak. We have checked the forcast and it looks like we'll be heading up tomorrow, assuming all stays clear. There is much more snow on the mountain than when we first saw the peak only a week ago. This is good for climbing conditions, and we are anxious to get up on the glaciers. I will try to keep you updated on the peak climb in the next week. I love this place!