Here's a burgeoning adventure thrill sport that's on a roll. Zorbing is a unique Kiwi invention that is not only 'off the wall' but seems to also be off an alien planet. Come for a fun day out and introduce your group to a unique sport. You'll have an absolute ball!

Zorbing originated in New Zealand in the 1990's as a novel invention by two Kiwis looking for a new adventure challenge. 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. Some Zorbs have harnesses to hold you in place, so you just roll with the ball.

If this experience isn't strange enough already, you can try wet zorbing, which has the added pleasure of buckets of water in the zorb with you, ensuring that your ride is very slippery, not to mention very wet. It is the only water sport on land.

Put a whole new spin on things and get up close and personal with your mate. Try a double with a good friend, this get intimate. It is a wet ride you will never forget.

Mad scientists have combined ancient technology with the force of gravity to create an awesome experience. Ride inside this big ball, with a 700 mm air cushion between you and the ground. This keeps you safe as you hurtle down the side of a hill at speeds of up to 50 kph.

The classic definition of "zorb" sounds something like this: "A transparent sphere with diameter 3,2 m with the cabin for a passenger (zorbonaut) inside". Zorb is designed for rolling down hills, mountains or flat water. Zorb's weight is about 80 kg.

A Zorb is a large 3.2m (10.5 foot) diameter clear plastic ball encasing another sphere. In excess of 200 Zorbs have been rolled out from the Rotorua factory and the future for aspiring zorbonauts looks bright.

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 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. Zorb Swanage (UK) has the longest Hydro and Harness Zorb run in the universe! An amazing 300m from launching pad to landing point.

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. It is now a worldwide business with franchise agents in many countries.

Strapped-in Zorbing can be enjoyed by people of all ages who don't mind being strapped inside an enormous clear plastic, air-cushioned ball. You are actually quite secure inside the inner capsule. All the violent bouncing is absorbed by the bigger outer transparent ball. As the ball rolls down a long grass-covered slope, you spin around in a virtual anti-gravity form of weightlessness like an intoxicated space traveller. As you tumble head over heels, the build up of centrifugal force keeps you pressed hard against the plastic wall, so it's easy to 'go with the flow' and enjoy the revolving view outside. The harness experience is designed as a more extreme ride as you are rotating in the Zorb every 11 metres. You can choose either the down speed track or the slalom track.

The most challenging and adrenalin packed ride where you're strapped into the Zorb and water is added in with you. A wild ride with 40 litres of water rushing past you as you rotate through the water flying down a hill. Definitely for thrill seekers and not for the faint hearted.

For non stop giggles opt for the Wet Zorb. If you want to try something a little different and you don't mind getting very wet then try the "wash cycle" to cleanse the body and clear the mind. Liquid-Zorbing is a more recent development of this zany cross between a waterfall and downhill roller coaster ride.

In the wet Zorb water is added inside the Zorb so you can run, tumble, flip or slide inside as the Zorb hurtles downhill. Water in the Hydro Zorbs makes the surface slippery, avoiding friction burns on your skin. You just sit and slide rather than rotate with the Zorb.

You enter the Zorbing ball through a small funnel, then they throw in a few buckets of water for a truely refreshing experience. Your task, should you even try to attempt it, is to stay on your feet for the duration of the episode (about 20 seconds). This sounds simple enough, but is not. You'll slide all around, getting more and more soaked. It's wonderful fun, though. You will never look at laundry in the same way again.

This experience is for one, two or three people inside. Dry clothes and towels plus warm or cool water are available.

Zorbing over the surface of a lake or pool is another variant where you are also left to flail about as the zorb floats across the water. As before a good amount of water is added to the ball to make it a bit more slippery fun. Try to stay upright as long as you can. Every time you slip and fall you end up in the water puddle and your clothes get soaked a bit more. When you come out of the ball at the end of your session you'll exit the ball right into the water.

This is of course great fun for kids who love to get wet in their clothes, like most do. Dressed in T-shirts, long trousers and socks they enter the Zorb, followed by a good helping of water. The entrance gets zipped up while they splash each other inside. A quick push and down the hill they go for a good spin and soak, screaming with delight.

There is also a kids Zorb where younger children can play around on the flat ground in a new type of Zorb design.

Roll downhill inside a huge ball with options of Dry Zorb, Wet Zorb or The Kids Run-around. So what is this Zorb thing? The Zorb is the latest adventure experience brought to you from New Zealand. You see, that's a person in the middle of this big ball. They have about 700 mm of air between them and the ground and this air cushion keeps you safe as you hurtle down the side of a hill at speeds of up to 50 kilometres per hour. The idea is that as the ball rolls around, and the person inside (known as "the Zorbonaut") becomes pinned to the inside, just like water inside a bucket being spun around your head.

They push the ball and you roll down the hill, slipping and sliding all the way down inside the wet Zorb. Just like Wet N' Wild only better!

This is such a random experience, how anybody came up with this idea is beyond us. It is however great fun.

Details
Zorbing is NZ$49 a go at the Agrodome, just outside Rotorua. Go to http://www.zorb.co.nz or phone +64 7 357 5100 for more details.

I got myself prepped and headed out to Zorb.

Zorb is a genius New Zealand creation and I had been looking forward to Zorbing since my arrival in NZ four weeks earlier. A Zorb is a giant, 12 foot, puffy beach ball with a hollow, suspended core inside. The concept is, you shove anywhere from one to three humans into the core, zip the access hole closed and then roll the thing down a steep hill. The humans inside get the bouncy ride of their lives.

You can Zorb two different ways; either have yourself strapped onto the interior wall and roll and bounce with the Zorb, or you can dump a few buckets of water in there (Hydro Zorb), and free-float around in there, basically stationary but sloshing around, as the ball rolls around you.

Also, you have the choice of a straight roll downhill, usually meant for when there are two or three people in the Zorb, or the zigzag track which only allows for one rider, because if two or more people zigzagged together they would inadvertently kick the crap out of each other.

At the behest of the girl behind the desk, I did the Hydro, Zigzag Zorb. It was nothing short of fabulous.

After a Zorb. Attention ladies! Remember to wear a bra or a bikini top under your Zorb clothes. These girls learned the hard way that Zorb-issue shirts become uncomfortably see-through when they get wet.

Having been pre-warned about the hydro option, I had arrived in my swimsuit, but Zorb provides Zorbing attire for unprepared people. Once my group was suited up, we were driven to the top of the hill and coached about how to effectively Zorb. Then the access hole was unzipped and I did the running Superman leap necessary to get oneself into the core. A moderate dumping of water was added and I was sealed in.

To get the ball rolling, so to speak, you just start walking forward in the core, like in a hamster wheel. Once you get going, it's completely out of your hands.

The water and the inertia keeps you helplessly bouncing and sliding all over the inside of the ball. On the zigzag track, every time you hit a turn, you go flying up one side of the ball and are then tossed back into middle as the ball switches directions. It was uncontrolled, marvelous pandemonium. I screamed with delight, an impulse that I rarely have these days, as I was thrown around during the 30 seconds ride. The Zorb rolls so fast and you are being thrown around so much that there's no seeing where you're going or when the next curve is coming, so you are just blindly tossed around until the Zorb comes to a stop at the bottom. Finally someone unzips the access hole and you slide out, breathless. As I dried off I enthusiastically watch and photographed several other people Zorbing. It just never got old.

A few of us decided to go Zorbing, a new way to take a shower!

This is an odd sport, even by Kiwi standards. Invented in New Zealand nine years ago by Andrew Akers, the activity consists of rolling down a hill in a giant plastic ball called a Zorb. Manufactured locally out of PVC plastic, an inner sphere is held in place by cords to the outer sphere.

I crawled into the sphere and strapped myself in. When ready, the gate was released and I rolled straight down the hill. It was a bizarre sensation and I had no idea which way was up or down as the Zorb spun me into oblivion.

The wet option was much more fun. This time you are not strapped into the sphere, but I sat in some warm water that is poured in.

The ball follows a slalom course down the hill and it felt like I was in a giant stir-fry. I couldn't stop laughing, even after the ride was over because it was so much fun. Each ride costs about $40 and last about 45 seconds.