Zorbing

18-4-2014

     Zorbing, what a weird name. Even weirder is OGO, the same thing as zorbing but it's in a course rather than just down an open hill. Both activities were created by the same person, and they're both within 10km of each other, so we set out to go zorbing but stopped at the OGO place instead. It was raining, as it had been for days, and I was a little worried it was going to be freezing cold, but the promise of a free dip in the hot-tub afterwards convinced me. At least if I was going to be wet and cold it would only be temporary. My worries were wrong, however. It turns out that they put warm water in when it's cold, and cooler water when it's hot. Genius.

     Perhaps I should explain what zorbing (aka OGOing) is before I go on. It a fun activity that involves climbing inside of a ball that's inside of another ball, attached to each other by hundreds of stiff, rubbery rods (or so it looks like) that maintain about a 2 foot gap between the balls at all times. The ball rolls down a hill with you inside, completely safe because you're literally in a bubble. There are different kinds of zorbing. The dry version includes getting in a full body harness and rolling every which direction with the ball. The wet version means you climb in with a few gallons of water and slip and slide around while the ball moves around you. You can sit and enjoy a tame ride, or you can flip and roll and slide as high up the walls as you can and make it really interesting. We, of course, made it interesting. We also chose to go together in one ball, to make it a little more interesting. Plus it was cheaper. I got splashed in the face, squashed, and smushed, and I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't breathe. 

     As I said, OGOing is in a course, a lot like snow tubing. The course was a big stack of zig-zags down the hill, with every corner banked up nice and high. We did our best to bank as high as we could on every corner and go as fast as we could, but we really couldn't see so it was hard to tell. Between the splashing water and two layers of plastic bubble, the outside world was just a foggy blur. We had no idea where we were once we were pushed off at the start, and we couldn't see what was coming up next. We could only feel when we were on a corner, and sometimes that was deceiving because the ball was constantly turning and spinning. 

     It might sound dizzying but it's not. It's incredibly fun. I think it was the most fun thing we did in New Zealand. Skydiving is close, maybe even tied, but zorbing didn't hurt my ears. We laughed the whole time, and kept on smiling for hours afterward. If it wasn't so expensive we might have spent the whole day there. I highly suggest it to anyone and everyone who has the opportunity to try it, no matter what age!