Zorbing & meeting our Jucy

July 2, 2012:
The first day of our trip to the East Coast, we caught our flight at the crack of dawn (probably) and arrived in Brisbane. Or "Brizzy", as it is known by locals. We easily located the Jucy van pick-up centre and patiently waited to discover our home for the next two weeks.

We loaded it up, and loaded ourselves in, but it wouldn't start. We each took a turn trying to figure out if we were turning the keys wrong, or what, but it seemed we had chosen a dud. In hindsight, this was the first clue that our Jucy van was special and that we should have demanded a different vehicle, but we were lulled into a false sense of security by the maintenance man who simply replaced our engine (if you want to be technical, it was our battery) or some other insignificant detail (!!!!!). So instead we hit the road for a trip full of promise....

We didn't have far to go for our first activity, called "zorbing". Zorbing is listed as an extreme activity and is on par with bungee jumping by insurance standards. I didn't really know what I was in for and I was not assured by the implied intensity of the "z" and the inherent childishness of the "orbing" sounds, but this video clip was enough to convince me that the experience would be hilarious, simply because the concept is so ridiculous:

It turns out the hilarity was not just in making fun of silly ads about it. You can choose to "zorb" with a harness, or in water, and not wanting to get banged up too badly we opted for the latter. It was, in my not so humble opinion, the right choice. It turns out, zorbing is aptly named.

We paired up, Jay and Brittney went first, Caitlin and I went afterward, not missing the opportunity to flirt with our South African "zorb operator" or whatever job title he happened to have (it went terribly as it happens - we were afraid of some dangling bugs and he judged by our reaction that we'd seen a poisonous snake), until we had to barrel into the centre of the zorb ball in our bathing suits. I'm sure that was an attractive sight.

The only way to really describe the feel of being inside the "zorb" ball as it tumbled down the hill, was being on an unpredictable water slide that could bounce you into the air, and that it was impossible to stay up in. We giggled like small children the whole way and immediately wanted to go again. The manager cut us a deal and we got to go again for a quarter of the price! Oh joy!!!

After all of the afternoon's excitement, we were ready to settle in for the drive to Surfer's Paradise where we walked along the beach at sunset. Jay took loads of beautiful photos of us and Caitlin was asked by some other tourists to be in their photos with them.

It was obvious to us why this beach was so popular in the 1950's and 60's as a tourist destination, leading to the urban skyline, and why it would continue to be so, aside from the great waves. We made our way back to Brisbane to spend the night at a hostel, but they were out of parking spaces for our Jucy van, and we had to stay in a hostel room. The room was freezing all night and I had the pleasure of trying to sleep through the late night binge of a roommate with the munchies, scarfing down chips at a decibel comparable to a jackhammer - and with the same speed and intensity, too.

Overall, our first day went amazingly despite some small hiccoughs and we were nervously trying to prepare ourselves for the big adventure we'd embark on the next day.... skydiving!!