Zorbing!

Avid readers of my blog might remember that I've been zorbing before, on an overcast day during my first autumn in fact, but in an effort to round things out before I depart Tokushima I decided to hit the slope again with some friends.  Despite heading out west in summer this time, the weather for this second trip was just as dodgy and as we filled out our insurance forms the rain began to fall again.  Not to be deterred though, we simply changed into our wet-weather gear, opted for the water-zorb and headed upstairs to get started.

For those of you who didn't catch my original zorbing post or unlucky enough to not have tried zorbing for yourself, in Japan it goes a little something like this:

1) Drive about an hour west of Awa (that's about 2 hours west of Tokushima City) into the mountainous region of Ikeda.

2) Fill out your health and insurance forms (you can't zorb while pregnant or with back/neck problems etc) and choose the wet or dry options.  We chose wet, which entails climbing into a giant zorb ball that has about 5 litres of water in the bottom of it and slip-sliding your way down to the bottom, instead of being dry-harnessed in.

3) Pay your 700yen (or $7 AUD) and go get changed into bathers.

4) Head up the hill in a little motorised car and get ready for the ride of your life.

5) Once you've reached the bottom of the hill, wet and sloshed around inside your zorb ball, birth yourself out of the little entrance hole and smile at the camera!

Looking up the hill!

The ladies, getting ready to zorb.

Photo courtesy of Liz J.

The catchment area.

Simon, shortly after being birthed out of the zorb-ball...

And feeling the rush!

The zorbing crew (from L-R): Liz, me, Todd, Danielle, Simon, Natasha, Maria and Sergio.

Photo courtesy of Liz J.