Monday, May 22, 2006

Being the Hamster...



New Zealand is known for their adventure seeking activities. Whether it's skydiving in Wanaka, doing any sort of various X-Game activities in Queenstown or Sea Kayaking along the various coasts, Kiwis like their thrills by the second instead of the minute. During our visit to Rotorua I elected to check out the latest in Kiwi adventuring, Zorbing.

Zorbing is a Kiwi invention (to learn more about it check out their website). I'm guessing a few pints were involved since Zorbing pretty much entails putting yourself in a plastic ball and either being strapped in (harness zorbing) or dumped into a small puddle of warm water (hydro zorbing) and pushed down a steep hill. Due to some dodgy wind conditions, the harness zorbing was out of the questions so I changed into some sweet stylish clothes and headed up the track to give it a go.

In short, the sensation is a cross between being in an anti-gravity chamber and a cat in the dryer. Of course, being a person who finds a cat in the dryer humorous, I enjoyed it so much I had to do it twice, taking advantage of some good advice on the latter run to really get some serious speed going. Tried to talk the wife into it but she wasn't budging.

It's tough to describe it much more than that. The pictures do a much better job of telling the tale. In short though I was able to truly be the hamster.

Brian

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Brian,

Your job search has officially ended. Upon returning to the States, you will immediately open a Zorb facility. This sounds like quite possibly the wierdest thing ever, and thus will be immensely popular. I'm not joking. The possibilities are endless. Snow-Zorb on Mt. Hood, Wind-Zorb in the Gorge, Tribal-Casino-Zorb-Racing, Football-Game-Halftime-Show-Zorbing-Down-the-Aisles, etc.
You'll be rich. Think about it.

-Old Man Grimes