ZORBING/zɔːbɪpŋ/
Imagine yourself suspended inside a ten-foot clear plastic sphere by nylon ropes, then rolled to the top of a steep hill and pushed off. No brakes, no steering, just you and gravity. By all accounts, it’s like being a stray sock in a spin dryer, and it’s obligatory to scream a lot. This is the newest extreme sport, invented by Andrew Akers in New Zealand about three years ago as something exciting for the tourists to do. There are reports that some find hillsides too tame, and have tried rolling off cliffs and waterfalls. The balls bounce OK; so usually do those inside. Confirming my suspicion that there is no activity so crazy that it will not be taken up by somebody somewhere, Zorbing has enthusiasts not only in the Antipodes but also in Europe (though the craze seems not to have hit the USA yet). A participant is sometimes called a Zorbonaut.
