Tasting WA no hard blog for tweeter

He hit the ground running.

Literally.

Within hours of landing in Perth to start work as WA's inaugural Taste Master - dubbed "one of the best jobs in the world" by Tourism Australia - Rich Keam, a 34-year-old Briton, finished the 12km City to Surf fun run in a respectable 1hr 16min. 49sec.

"Great run, excellent intro to Perth and a good way to get over the jet lag," he tweeted.

Mr Keam was chosen from more than 90,000 applicants for the Taste Master gig and will spend six months wining and dining his way around WA, blogging and tweeting as he goes.

"It's going to be great. I can't wait," he said. "I travelled around Australia when I was in my 20s but ran out of money and never made it to WA. I am looking forward to the seafood, the wineries, all the great produce."

Mr Keam, who has worked as a costume assistant on films such as Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean for the past six years, got his first taste of local seafood when he enjoyed some fresh mussels at Blue Lagoon Mussels at Point Peron on Tuesday.

But his first "official" day will be Monday when he flies to Broome for the start of three weeks in the Kimberley.

While there, Mr Keam will go mud crabbing and spearfishing at Cape Leveque, dragon boat racing and camel riding in Broome and visiting tourist attractions including Kooljaman, the Bungle Bungles and El Questro.

When he returns to Perth he will be joined by his partner Chrissy and six-month-old son George, who will be based in Perth but hope to join him on some of his adventures.

A trip to Rottnest is high on the family's wish list, but Mr Keam said there are plenty of other WA spots that he was keen to visit.

"I've heard so much about Margaret River, and its great food and wine, that I can't wait to spend some time down there," he said.

Federal Tourism Minister Gary Gray said the Taste Master concept was a fantastic way to promote WA and its great food and extraordinary experiences.

"It gives us an international platform," Mr Gray said.

Source: The West Australian, 31 August 2013