Zorbing in Rotorua

by Emily Davies - June 25th, 2009. Filed under: Adventure, Attraction, Events and Activities, North Island.

In the 1990’s, two kiwis were looking for a new adventure challenge and came up with the idea of jumping inside a large inflatable ball and rolling around for fun! They gave it the name ‘Zorbing’ and it is now a worldwide business with franchise agents in many countries, from Sweden, to Ireland, and Korea to Thailand.

Seeing as Rotorua is home to the world’s very first zorb site, and is in fact the only place in New Zealand where you can take part in the strangely bizarre activity, I decided to stay an extra night while visiting the city, so that I could have a go!

The Zorb Rotorua site is located just outside the city centre and therefore if you don’t have a car, you’ll need to jump on the bus from town. It’s only a short journey and drops you off directly outside the adventure site.

Upon arrival, I was asked which activity I wanted to participate in. There was a choice? Surely regular zorbing was crazy enough? However it seemed there were a couple of considerations to make – did I want to jump inside the ball alone, or with a few other companions? Did I want to be strapped down inside the ball, or simply fly around at my own free will? Oh, and did I want to have a bucket load of water thrown in too, just for fun? Normally, I may have rejected the latter, however given the drizzly rain outside, I didn’t think the water would make much difference to my already wet clothes. So, opting for the ‘Zydro Zorb’, I paid my money, signed my forms and stepped forward towards an 11 foot inflatable sphere.   

I was asked which track I wanted to attempt, the straight or the zigzag and after checking out both, my instinct lay with the more adventurous latter option. After throwing some warm water in to the ball, my instructor told me to simply dive head first through the hole, and in to the water! Terrified I was going to get stuck in the hole, with my head inside a huge inflatable ball and my legs kicking around outside, I was relieved when I made it through in one swift dive! Before I knew it, my entrance (and exit) in to the ball was zipped up and I realised there was just two feet of air to protect me from the ground!

Stepping forward to get the ball rolling, I suddenly fell to my knees as the giant inflatable sphere started it’s descent down the zigzag track. To start with I tried to control myself and was able to remain upright but after a few seconds I realised the whole experience would be heaps more fun if I just let go and went with wherever the ball wanted to take me. With each corner it rolled in to, I too, found myself rolling, from side to side, upside down and front to back, the whole time being splashed by water! I genuinely didn’t stop laughing from the top to the bottom of the hill as I thought, ‘what on earth am I doing?!!’. It was hilarious and while it didn’t last nearly long enough, it was such incredible fun and well worth a visit with your travel buddies.

As the sphere bounced to a halt at the bottom of the track, the staff came over to release me and help me climb out, feet first! With such a small amount of water in the ball, I hadn’t expected to come out as soaked as I did! Unfortunately for me, I hadn’t prepared for that so didn’t take any dry clothes and on a cold day, it was pretty unpleasant so I’d definitely recommend taking a spare set of clothes if you want to try the Zydro Zorb.

Like most activities in New Zealand, you are offered a chance to buy the ‘official’ photographs after your experience. While it’s never very pleasant forking out additional dollars after an activity, trust me, photos of you crawling out of a large blow-up ball, soaking wet, feet first, is not a sight your friends and family will see every day and so I highly recommend buying the CD; it’s certainly worth the laughs later on.

To find out more about Zorb Rotorua, click here.

Tags: Rotorua, Zorbing