Our giant ball to visit Japan, Australia

Tourism NZ is looking to take a giant Whangarei-made rugby ball  promoting New Zealand   to Japan and Australia in the lead-up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
The brains behind the ball, Warwick Bell, owner of Fabric Structure Systems, said the concept had become one of the best tourism promotions in the world.
The ball stands 25m-long and 12m-high and fits up to 230 people inside for a 10-minute "full immersion" film about life and attractions in New Zealand.
Tourism NZ contracted Auckland-based  Inside Out Productions to produce the ball, which was designed and made at Whangarei's Fabric Structure Systems in Lower Dent St in strictest secrecy in 2007. The design included an audio-visual presentation which was screened to promote New Zealand at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in Paris.
After being stored in Paris for a year, the ball was re-erected beside the Tower Bridge in London as the venue for the 2011 Rugby World Cup draw - in which New Zealand was  the successful candidate.
The  Government then decided to continue using it as a promotional tool and plans have been made to send the ball to Tokyo for a Bledisloe Cup test in October.
Tourism NZ spokeswoman Cas Carter said the organisation was  negotiating its way through Japan's strict safety regulations to get approval for the ball to be set up there.
The success of the inflatable rugby ball is an example of how Fabric Structure Systems has gone from strength to strength. Last year, the company won an award for excellence at the Industrial Fabrics Association International awards in the US for the ball. Then it picked up the title of "supreme winner" at the Outdoor Fabric Products Association of New Zealand awards for their inflatable "Christchurch dome", home to an ice skating
rink during the Christchurch Arts Festival.
In preparation for the Tokyo trip, the ball was back in Whangarei for 10 days of maintenance. Signwriters have been busy painting the words "www.New Zealand.com" on the roof of the ball so visitors to Tokyo Tower can look down and see the words clearly. It is now sitting in a container in Auckland waiting to be shipped to Japan in September. After two trips in Australia, the ball will be toured around New Zealand as part of the Rugby World
Cup 2011.
Projects in the pipeline for the  firm include a netball court cover in West Auckland, an aircraft hangar in Papua New Guinea and a pool cover in Perth.