What Was I Thinking?

Posted by Ruth Atherley on May 21, 2010 at 1:26 pm

I am not sure what I was thinking when I said yes to crawling into a big plastic ball and getting tossed down a hill. I mean, really…what could I have been thinking? Of course Tourism New Zealand is one of our all-time favourite clients. So jumping off bridges, getting tossed down hills, etc. is fine by me. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for them. (Oh no! I can just see them planning my next ADVENTURE, now that I have said that!)

I arrived at ZORB® and the young, friendly team quickly got me ready to roll. ZORB® is a New Zealand company that invented the ZORB® globe and the sport of ZORB® globe riding.

I don’t know about anyone else, but with things like ZORB® globe riding and bungy jumping there is a moment of absolute freaking PANIC. I am a little bit claustrophobic and the thought of going into that ball through a little entrance made my heart pound and my palms sweat. Add to that, I all of a sudden realized that they were going to push me down the hill in this big round thing! Add them up and you have the stuff that nightmares are made of!

I looked at the young man who was going to give me the push and said, “I can’t do this.” He looked right back and said: “Yes you can.” I have to give him a lot of credit. His calm and easy attitude made it easy for me to get over my fears.

I climbed into the ZORB® globe, right into a little puddle of water. It was warm, so that wasn’t such a big deal. And besides, my brain was completely focused on the fact that I was about to get pushed down a hill in a big round ball. Getting wet was just a detail.

This was like nothing I ever imagined. You slip and slide all over the place and yet, you feel completely safe – and terrified – and full of fun all at the same time. As the ball first begins to move, it’s like your entire focus changes and the only thing that exists is you in this little round ball. This space becomes your entire world. And you move all over the place in this ball. I imagine that it’s a matter of physics how you are moved through the ZORB® globe, but when you are doing it, it feels like you are hurtling through a different dimension. Inside the ball it’s just white, but everything is more defined. It’s like the world is moving in slow motion, but at an incredibly fast pace.

When I saw the photos, I thought, “Holy doodle, that’s me in that ball!!! Look at that.”

It’s a crazy ride and definitely worth doing!