New
Zealand is known as the ‘Adventure Sport Capital of the World.’ They invented the
sport which involves tying a long rubber band around your ankles and plunging
head first off a bridge. They also created the ‘flying fox,’ which is basically
a giant swing across a chasm or gorge. And they created a sport where you roll
down a hill inside a giant plastic bubble. Prior to this NZ invention, people
who were in bubbles tended to be extremely sick i.e. Bubble Boy the movie, or extremely
sheltered, i.e. Bubble Boy the movie. However, any child who has owned a pet
hamster will tell you about their secret desire to be able to ride around in
one of those mobile hamster wheels. Kiwi’s
must have had this desire as well because they invented an adventure sport for
it known as Zorbing!
The
people at Ogo located in Rotorua have taken human-hamster hybrid technology to
the next level by introducing multiple riders and water into the equation. This eliminates the need for upright running
in your human hamster ball; you can now slip-side and flip around in a shallow
pool of water as the ball goes careening down the side of a grassy hill. When I
say grassy hill, do not envision the sort of gentle slope that you would sit
and have a picnic on during the summer, this is more like a ski/snowboarding
run without the snow; it is at an angle to help with acceleration. There are two of these grassy runs you can
choose from, or try out both like Andrew and I did. The first was Straight Shot,
a 250m long path downhill. The second option is a side-to-side zig-zag path aptly
named Sidewinder. The second run is the world’s longest track at 350m, and takes
longer to complete because you bounce around a lot when you get to each one of
the 6 corners on the track.
If
you go during NZ winter like we did, you start your Ogo experience by sitting
in your swimsuit bundled up in your dry towels on the outdoor deck next to a
potbellied stove to stay warm. When it is your turn, you leave your towels and
flip flops behind and jump into the back of a 4 runner vehicle that will chaffier
you and a trailer towing your Ogo human hamster ball up the hill. Once at the
top, you make a mad dash to a plywood shed that has a space heater in it where
you wait for your hamster ball to be set up at the top of the run, and filled
with 40 liters of warm water. When ready, you make a headlong dive into your
hamster ball (one at a time if you have multiple riders) and position yourself
so as not to kick your partner in the face (once you start rolling, positioning
doesn’t matter too much because it all goes to hell once you are tumbling down
the hill so don’t spend too much time finding the right spot to lay/sit/stand).
A staff member will zip the entrance to your human hamster ball shut and there
is now no escaping, just like an actual hamster ball.
When the gate is
raised you start gently rolling and sloshing down the hill. You think, ‘wow,
this is not so bad, it’s even kind of romantic - like the Log Ride at Disneyland,’
but then you hit a corner and go spinning out of control inside your plastic bubble
and reconsider your initial assessment of the situation. Next thing you know,
you are twisted around, rolling backwards, and laughing your head off. I do
regret not spending the extra $50NZD to take a go-pro inside to capture video
of the theatrics taking place inside our human hamster ball. In hindsight, hearing
us giggling uncontrollably for a minute could have been worth the additional cost;
however the cost to ride in the Ogo is approximately that price per person so
just something to consider when you are planning your own future human hamster
hybrid adventure.
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