Being strapped into a giant, transparent ball before being rolled down a hill is the latest adrenalin-producing activity to come from New Zealand.
A Co Tipperary man is introducing zorbing to Irish enthusiasts. Mr Rory McLoughney, a mobile-phone salesman in Thurles, was intrigued by the idea when he saw a television programme on the activity two years ago.
This week he signed a landlease deal 15 miles from Thurles, at a site outside Cullahill, on the Laois-Kilkenny border.
A former hang-gliding enthusiast, he decided earthbound thrills were more to his liking and bought the Irish franchise. He said the sensation was like bungee-jumping but lasts longer.
"The thrill is experiencing a feeling of being totally out of control yet being in a very controlled environment.
"As the ball goes down the hill, you feel very, very radical centrifugal forces on your body. You cannot stop it once it starts."
A zorb measures about 11 feet in diameter and costs £6,500 to make.
It consists of a sphere within a sphere with the space in between inflated.
The rider is harnessed in and the zorb is pushed down a hill. Mr McLoughney's new site has a 700-metre run, which he describes as the world's longest zorb run.
He will fence it in to prevent the zorb being blown off course. He expects his company, Zorb Ireland, to be offering corporate packages later this year.
At the Mars Sports Show in the Point Theatre last October, he was given the name of an insurer who would take on the project.
"The insurance premium is very expensive. That is one of our biggest expenses," he said.
The project was delayed by the foot-and-mouth crisis, and a site he had earmarked previously ran into planning difficulties due to its proximity to a proposed road.
"The interest seems to be there. We have had a few body blows with the foot-and-mouth and the planning but it is going to be hard to stop us now," Mr McLoughney said.
"I would like to think we are up and running over the next few weeks."
Information on zorbing, described as "an extreme sport" by the Oxford Dictionaries database, can be found at www.zorb.com and www.zorb.ie
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Readers who wish to contact Eibhir Mulqueen can leave messages by dialling (01) 670- 7711, extension 6544 or email emulqueen@irish-times.ie