|
The Kiwi's have been known to come up with some pretty bizarre
ideas for sports (bungee jumping for example), but
this is by far the oddest. Try to imagine climbing inside
a giant beach ball and rolling downhill, falling and bouncing
around inside - that's zorbing!
The zorb itself is a large transparent ball, with two walls
with about two feet gap between them, and connect by a large
number of coloured nylon strings. This gap is filled with
air, effectively padding the inner chamber, which the 'zorbanaut'
climbs into, through a short conical tunnel, for their ride.
The central chamber is always open to the air, so that the
participant can always breathe, but the exit isn't so big
that the person inside can accidentally fall out! If this
experience isn't strange enough already, you can try wet zorbing,
which has the added pleasure of half a bucket of water in
the zorb with you, ensuring that your ride is very slippery,
not to mention very wet. If you don't like the idea of bouncing
around freely inside, there are zorbs with harnesses to hold
you in place, so you just roll with the ball.
If you can't wait to try this new craze, then hurry along
to Rotorua, the world's first zorbing centre, or Zorb
Northland at Paihia in the Bay of Islands.
If you're in the UK, there is also a site recently opened
down in Dorset, if you want to try before you go, but
it's considerably cheaper in New Zealand. It's safe for people
of all ages, even grannies according to the official website,
and apparently great fun. It is claimed that no-one has ever
been sick in a zorb, and that you're unlikely to even get
dizzy. Costs are about NZ$30 for the first go, $10 for each
consequent ride. |
|
|
|
|
