Having a Ball in a Zorb
Zorbing is a fun adventure activity that can be done in two gorgeous locations in New Zealand. The best known is at New Zealand's tourist town of Rotorua; the other is picturesque Haruru Falls just out of Paihia in Northland. The first Zorb site in the world is at Rotorua's Agrodome, five minutes from the city centre. (The Agrodome has other adventure activities too, such as working the sheep and dogs, jet boat sprinting, bungy, and helicopter rides.) The Zorb is a big, fat, round, clear, plastic ball into which you climb before being rolled down a hill. Inside is a two-foot air cushion to stop the person banging against the ground. For added fun, people can have a water Zorb, in which a bucket of water is thrown in to the ball! One, two or three people can go in a Zorb at one time. Children from the age of six can go in the water Zorb, and from around 11 can go in the harnessed Zorb (in which the Zorber lies ‘starfish’ with hands and feet slipped into harnesses). The Zorb was created by Kiwi brothers David and Andrew Akers, and Dwayne van der Sluis, a former scientist with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). The Zorb's first test run was in 1994 and the commercial operation in Rotorua began in 1998. It is now franchised all around the world.
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