19 Things I Like About... Palmerston North!

First of all sorry that I'm a bit late in my running feature!!! Pretty gutted about that cos I had a good one planned... :P But in my defense I was completely unprepared for how I spent the evening. I ended up sitting in the inside of a pub doing door sales for a bunch of bands I'd never heard of, which was really random way to spend four and a half hours on a Friday night! I was just there helping out a friend of a friend as they had no one to do it for them, so I volunteered my time. It actually wasn't too bad, despite the complete lack of things to do. The music was alright too - there were 3 reggae bands playing and they all seemed pretty competent at what they did. It was a pity more people didn't turn up!

Anyway, it gave me heaps of free time to think about today's post: 19 Things I Like About Palmerston North!

Palmerston North gets a pretty bad rep around New Zealand. It's been called at various times "a hole", "the most boring place ever!" and a probably a lot of worse names. But while these things are true, to some extent (it can get pretty boring and a lot of the scenery is not very fantastic), there's also a lot of great things about Palmy that people overlook.

1. The people!
Course this one's got to be my number one! Everyone I've met in Palmerston North (apart from the thugs who tried to steal my longboard) has been real cool! I've been lucky enough to have met such a great group of people at the hostel, at UCOL and at church, and they've all been super supportive and just awesome to hang out with! Met some of my best friends this year. And they've all been from/came to Palmerston North!

2. The Square
It's actually a pretty nice place, as you can see in the photo above. I'll always remember visiting it in one of the first weeks living here this year and climbing trees with my mates from the hostel. Good times!

3. Ten Pin Bowling
One to solve those problems of having nothing to do in Palmy: go bowling!
I haven't been for a while, but it's always heaps of fun.

4. Laser Tag
WHAM! Another thing to do! This one's on the outskirts of the city so it's harder to get to if you're car-less, but it's super fun so worth checking out. Only problem is the games go by so fast!!!

5. Palmy Parkour

Parkour is like the ultimate urban sport, and it's so cool to watch! There's a great bunch of guys who do it in Palmerston North, and some of them are pretty pro! I joined up for a while and started to learn, but then I got to busy/lazy to go along to the jams. Might try to take it up again this summer though, cos it's so much fun! As well as being super impressive!!!
Hurts your legs though haha. You've got to be pretty fit to do what some of those guys can do!!!



6. The Music Scene?
If you're into it, and on the lookout, there's actually quite a few decent gigs going on around here. Practically every Saturday night there's a band playing in some pub, trying to make it and giving the punters a good time. Some of them are pretty good too, and I know a few personally. The Blue Grizzly Band is pretty choice if some bluesy rock is your cup of tea. Venus In Transit is an up-and-coming punk rock band which kinda sound like Paramore and are worth checking out. And then there's my personal favourite, a progressive rock band called Beneath The Heavens who have the musical skills to become New Zealand's Dream Theater... haha well maybe not quite Dream Theater status, but they are pretty darn good!!! So don't just sit there, go check out some local music at some point! You may be surprised at the wealth of talent in this town.


7. The walkway by the river
Ok, so it's nowhere as good as the one by the sea up in New Plymoth, but still, it's pretty nice. Went for an awesome 6am run along there early this year. Still need to go check out how it is for longboarding though!


8. Church!
Ok, so clearly this one might not be to everyone's taste, but still. There's some pretty awesome churches in Palmerston and it's worth acknowledging that fact! There's my awesome home church Crossroads which is such a thriving and interesting place to be. Salt Church is also a pretty happening place, and then for a nice welcoming family vibe you can't beat Hokowhitu Baptist. 10 to 1 you'll be invited home for lunch by at least one person!


9. Cafes/ Restaurants.

George Street in particular is full of them! My personal favourite is Cafe Cuba, the food (especially the milkshakes) there is SO GOOD! Then there's Bethany's, which makes the finest garlic bread out there! And there's a couple of other good ones around.


10. The Esplanade.
It's such a nice park!!! There's fun things to do, like the spinning hamster wheels or the flying fox. Or you can just have a picnic with mates and throw a frisbee round. Happy days! It's also got a few really nice rose gardens and the like.


11. The Regent.
This is such an awesome venue!! Definitely go see at least one concert there, and a play. I played there for my final performance with the UCOL guys, and despite introducing the wrong song and embarrassing myself in front of a whole bunch of people, it was the best show of my entire life (to date)! Playing on a stage that big in front of such a responsive crowd was one of the best moments I've ever experienced. It was awesome!
Stuff like this happened. 'Nuff said.

12. Theatre.
If you're into this, there's always quite a few decent plays happening around Palmerston. The ones at the Globe are particularly good, went and checked out a couple of those last year. The bigger productions at the Regent are usually quite impressive too.

13. Buskers!
Ahh yes, local music at it's finest. Hate it or love it, there's actually a few good ones around. My favourite is a duo of a violinist and guitarist. They play some mighty fine Irish jigs haha. And I've been known to hit the streets myself from time to time.

14. Movies.
The cinemas in Downtown are pretty choice - went and checked out a few good movies there this year (The Hunger Games, The Dark Night Rises, The Avengers), as well as a few terrible ones (Jack and Jill, Dark Shadows).

15. Music shops.
All three of them. Still, it's 3 more than Dannevirke had. Been loving going in to get new gear, strings, or just have a browse at the beautiful guitars up for sale (which are all unfortunately out of my budget.)

16. Concerts/ Events.
There's usually a few happening in the Square every year. Got a Christmas one coming up soon, should be choice!

17. Bus Services.
Gotta love the free bus service if you're a student. I personally didn't use it that much, what with UCOL being only 15 minutes walk away. But it was awesome when I did use it!

18. Beneath The Heavens.
I'll mention them again, because they're awesome. Go download some of their tunes for free from: https://soundcloud.com/beneath-the-heavens

19. The Baptist Student Youth Hostel.
One of my favourite things about this year was staying in this place. Awesome food, awesome company, and all round good times. I honestly couldn't rave on about it enough! We were all really looked after/ out for by the owners, and it's such a great service to students! Was definitely a huge highlight getting to stay in such an awesome place with so many awesome people. Here was were I found 3/4 of my flatmates too! So that sort of set me up haha.
Hope next year's students enjoy it!!!!

Jordan