JUMPING out of a plane was not as frightening as scaling the famously hair-raising Gloucester Tree in Western Australia's South West region, the man with one of the best jobs in the world says.
Rich Keam counts the 72-metre tree near Pemberton as the only challenge that's bested him in his enviable role as Tourism WA's "taste master" over the past four months.
The 35-year-old Englishman believes he scored the best of all seven gigs offered by Tourism Australia - including "chief funster" in NSW - as he's tasked with munching his way through WA's considerable culinary delights after beating more than 600,000 other applicants from around the world.
With about six weeks of his six-month contract remaining, he's yet to take in the temperate towns of Denmark, Albany and Esperance in the state's Great Southern region, and Geraldton in the Mid West.
But he's been dazzled by the Kimberley's rugged beauty, relished the South West - where he rubbed shoulders with top chefs such as Heston Blumenthal at the Margaret River Gourmet Escape - and taken the plunge from a tiny plane in the middle of Perth.
"I was absolutely terrified," Keam said of the tandem dive that landed him in the city's central Langley Park.
"I'm tall, so I had to stick my leg out onto the wheel and go head first down. That was surreal."
However, it wasn't as scary as trying to climbing 153 thin pegs to the top of the Gloucester Tree, a former fire lookout in the middle of Karri forest.
Keam twice made it about 15 metres up then declared: "I'm coming down!".
"My eyes were blurring, I got sweaty hands.
"I'd sooner jump out of a plane.
"If there was a harness, I'd do it, but that's the challenge, isn't it - to do it without a harness."
Keam said another top adventure was participating in the Kickstarters Gascoyne Dash, which starts in desert inland from Carnarvon.
The Brighton-based film costumer reached 220km in a souped-up buggy driven by WA's off-road racing champion Bradley Cooper, but it was the people he met in the fishing town that left the greatest impression.
"I just had a great time there," he said.
"There were really friendly people in Carnarvon - some real characters."
And after sampling boab tuber chutney, ants and pearl meat, Keam's gourmet highlight was at the Sal Salis luxury eco-camp on the Coral Coast at Ningaloo Reef, where he feasted on pork belly and mud crab salad.
"I was the only person there," Keam said.
"It was so peaceful and serene, looking out at the ocean, so I took two hours to eat it."
Keam says he'll miss WA - the ultimate self-drive holiday destination with its vast distances - and its family-friendly capital.
"I don't really want to leave.
"I'd like to stay here for a couple of years."
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