Silly doesn't even go near describing this activity. Well sure, everyone's wondered what it's like for a hamster to roll around in its little ball - but it takes a Kiwi to actually go and build one for bigger mammals.

On visiting the site, even before you get a chance to have a go, you can't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Watching people bouncing madly about about inside a huge rubber ball as it careers down the mountainside is simply hilarious, only to be topped when their bedraggled heads stick out from the hole looking like an enlarged Violet Beaureguard grinning from ear to ear.

I had a couple of goes on the course, choosing to have a go at both options: Dry and Wet. You can guess the basic difference between the two alternatives, but basically the distinction is that going down "dry" entails being firmly strapped into a chair within the ball. Why? Well if you go down in a dry ball you're liable to have a full-body exfoliation thanks to the sticky rubber ball surface. A wet zorb' on the other hand is a bit more fun, where there's less bondage and less friction, as it were.

A dry Zorb is a good laff, but doesn't compare to the lunacy of a wet Zorb. So Chris and I dived in to the zorb (her in a totally lady-like manner of course, whilst my entrance was more like an inverse midwifery procedure). Once inside, giggling with fear and excitement, a bucket of water is unceremoniously thrown into the interior. Then pushing forward we roll over the cusp and bound down the slope.

Now allegedly one can win a T-shirt for staying on your feet to the bottom, and many people have managed it, but personally I think it's impossible. Within seconds Chris and I were bouncing around arse-over-tit inside the damn ball totally out of control. It was nearly impossible to see with the water frothing around us, both of us laughing hysterically with limbs strewn around the place.

The "ride" itself must have lasted about 20 seconds, but by the time you get to the bottom you are thoroughly drenched but still giggling like a fool.