when i broke the news to my friends and family that i was moving to NZ, i got a lot of "wow, that's really far," and "why not australia?" and about a million "more sheep than people" jokes. all equally hilarious of course. i answered all the w's (who, what, where, when, why) and even a few h's (how - obviously), and found myself eventually with a well-practiced routine monologue.
until one of my friend's shocked me with her response to my move. "isn't that where they got in those giant hamster balls and rolled down hills on road rules?" right. because that's probably a pretty common point of reference for NZ. it was so ridiculous, i had to make a promise to find out more about these life-size hamster balls and set myself up for a ride.
there's really not much else of a description i need to give for a zorb other than a "life-size hamster ball." even wikipedia points out the similarities between a hamster ball and a zorb - as well as the seemingly deliberate timing of the zorb origin. and since human sized rodent toys have obvious appeal to a girl like me, i walked away with an awesome experience. unfortunately i wasn't able to stand up and run the whole time like i was picturing in my head (something along the lines of this: http://youtu.be/mI7vz9Bd664), but falling down turned out to be just as much fun.
the zorb track.
my own personal hamster wheel. dreams really can come true.
trying to look cool.
can you feel the excitement?!?!?!!?
zorbing down the hill - probably felt more exciting/steep than it looks.
what movie did i learn the "pop your leg if you're in love" trick from again?
truth be told, technically this wasn't the "zorb" ball. it was an off brand - the ogo ball. the woman in the tourism center swindled me into a sort of two for one deal, but i'm convinced the ride i took in the "knock off" plastic ball was probably pretty similar to a ride in a zorb branded plastic ball.
That would be Princess Diaries. See you soon!
ReplyDelete