World Tour, 2010: New Zealand is ZorbTASTIC

There are times in our lives when we must admit when we’re not number one at something. Even Mollie Shambeau experiences these moments of pure humility, and one of those moments is happening right this second.

Ooh, you just missed it. Let me replay in slow motion for you (a.k.a. let me go off on a tangent before I actually get to the point):

For the past three days, Sean and I have spent our time touring around the North Island of New Zealand, with the great majority of our time spend in Rotorua. Lucky for us, we had the pleasure of staying at Chez Windell, with the family of South-Carolinian-gone-New-Zealander Charlie Windell.

Now, a stay at Chez Windell is not for the faint of heart, oh no. Charlie is the host of all hosts (as are his wife, Jo, and son, Jacob) and managed to pack our stay full of the FUNNEST THINGS EVER. And yes, this is an instance when a non-word like FUNNEST can be used, because to be quite honest, real words don’t do the fun justice. We soaked in thermal pools, watched a live rugby game on TV surrounded by authentic New Zealanders, helped the New Zealand economy by drinking as much white wine as we could manage, spent three days taking in Rotorua’s sulfer-smelling air (it’s not so bad—really!), watched a geyser blow, spent hours learning about the Maori culture in the fantastic Rotorua Museum, and of course, tasted the best cookies in New Zealand: Ma Higgins Cookies.

But just what am I referring to that qualifies as funner than fun? One word: ZORB.

Mollie and Sean, pre-ZORBing

Rotorua is home to one of the very few ZORB locations in the world. Charlie—who heads up the Diabetes Youth Group there—set up a ZORB day for Sean, myself and a handful of super cool kids with type 1 diabetes. It was so fun spending the afternoon with them—especially ZORBing.

As it were, going ZORBing was one of my first goals I made when I decided to make the trip to NZ. I’d read about it on a blog that I found, written by a Humorology acquaintance from college, that I’ve actually only met one time but somehow we’d become Facebook friends and I happened upon his profile like a creepy stalker because I saw he’d relocated to New Zealand. In fact, I think our friendship may have been the aftermath of an intense game of “beer-pong baseball” on the front lawn of 104 Langdon. But that’s another story for another time…

Aside from my excitement about finding a NZ adventure to plan for our trip (much less, one with a name that’s spelled in all caps, my FAVORITE WAY TO EMPHASIZE EMOTION), I’d discovered a new blog called, “And now this is happening,” that had me rolling with laughter, and then crying tears of laughter, followed by this weird whining sob I do when I’m laughing the hardest I can.

Adam Saraceno—if you can hear me out there—it was great to meet you that one time. I think my team beat yours at baseball, so that was cool. I also would like to tell you I think your blog is genius, and because I feel like you’ve described ZORBing in the best possible way, I humbly admit that I cannot do it better. Therefore, I will LINK TO YOUR WEBSITE, and quote you here, followed by photos of my very own ZORB experience:

ZORB!

by Adam & Lara on 04/17/10

For those of you not familiar with the zany world of Zorbing, let us break it down for you. You roll down a hill in a giant inflated plastic ball that contains you and roughly 10 gallons of water and 1 million bajillion gallons of fun! And from the smell of it, it probably also contains trace amounts of pee.

You start all the way up high…And then you roll topsy-turvy all the way down the hill…

And then when you get to the bottom they try to charge you $20 for a CD full of pictures of you Zorbing. We refused, and instead just took the above pictures of the people that went after us.

The best part is the entry/exit process. There is a zippered flap in the ball that covers a hole about the size of a beach ball. To get in they open the flap and you have to run and dive in. To get out they reopen the flap and you squeeze yourself through until your body flops out onto the wet grass, just like childbirth (especially for Adam, who was crying hysterically when he emerged from the Zorb).

The Zorb balls at the top of the hill, waiting to be loaded with jittery ZORBers and pushed through the gates to roll and bounce their way down the hill

Rolling rolling down the hill...

Almost done! Hold onto your...er, nevermind. There's nothing to hold on to in a ZORB.

KERPLUNK...that was the sound of me coming out of the spherical womb, surrounded by the capable ZORB staff. It was like being born all over again, except into a much more fun-filled world.

And that was that. How awesome?!

Special thanks to Charlie, Jo and Jacob. BEST. ACCOMMODATIONS. EVER. See you next year

Do you like what you've read here? Please share!

•