Welcome back to the $50 Date, the column where a broke Uni student tries to have fun somewhere near to Hamilton without breaking the bank. The rules of the activity haven’t changed; We get $50 (Each or total, it’s not specified), we find something to do fairly close to Hamilton, and we have to rate whatever trouble we get into afterwards.
This week, I realised I couldn’t be bothered going any further than walking distance, so today my friends and I tore up Morrinsville in order to find something worth doing. Since it’s the first Saturday of the month, we realised that it would be more interesting than usual; the local farmer’s market was on! Yes, Morrinsville is such a small, boring town the most interesting part of our month is the Farmer’s market. Sue us.
All of the stalls were incredible, and they all had something different to offer. My favourite stall was the stand run by an older gentleman with a really cool cowboy hat. He had built an assortment of wooden jewelry boxes and decorative containers, most of them for a reasonable price. What caught our eye, however, was the strange collection of hollow boxes that definitely weren’t for putting things in; he said to pick a song on our phone, and to sit it in the suspiciously phone shaped slot. It’s an acoustic speaker, and they worked SUPER well. If only this was a $120 dollar date, I would have bought one of them in a heartbeat!
After our exploration of the market was complete, we went into town for a feed, and Morrinsville has no shortage of options for food. If you feel like a fancy meal, we have The Chambers or a Redoubt in the middle of town. If you’re rich, then there’s a few options for sushi down the main street. But our pride and joy here are our bakeries; we have seven or eight, but our three best are Ronnies, The Bakehouse, and The Wagon Wheel. Most locals will tell you the Wagon Wheel is the best, but they’re out of stock before 10am. The Bakehouse, however, always has more to sell. Their food costs an average of $6 per item, and the drinks in the fridge are about the same (unless you’re me, and you want to spend $10 on an iced chocolate because you aren’t broke enough). They also have a menu of breakfasts and lunches for under $20, all of which are super good to eat. We all got a pie and a drink, took a seat, and chatted until we were ready to go home and watch a movie
So, how did we rate the date?
Well, you do need to be prepared for this one because the farmer’s market is always on the first Saturday of the month, so it scored a 3/5. We did enjoy ourselves, but farmers markets can be a bit niche, plus Morrinsville doesn’t have a lot else to offer unless you like big plastic cows and walking, so it also scores another 3. Affordability was where it shines; if you don’t buy anything, the market is free, so theoretically you can get away without spending anything. The food around town isn’t bad either, and so I give it a 5/5; there’s no way you can break the bank. As for whether or not we’d go on a second date, that depends on who you are, and who you’re with; a recurring theme in this column. If you or your partner aren’t into this sort of thing, it’s not going to be perfect, but it gives you a chance to do cute coupley things like walk around holding hands or buy someone a necklace they looked at for two seconds too long, and so I’m giving it a 4 as well. That’s a total of 3.8 for the Morrinsville Farmers Market; maybe not the best, but certainly not the worst.
