And I thought I was just going to the Perth Royal Agricultural Show to judge the biggest cabbage competition or play guess the celebrity look-a-like onion or something like that.

Of course things never quite turn out as planned.

I ended up on stage shearing sheep with Big Jim, hosting a cookery class for 30 kids, milking a giant fibreglass cow and being interviewed for Channel 9 News with a three metre, 15kg olive python wrapped around my face. Another normal day in the Taste Master office.

The Perth Royal Show is an annual week-long event, showcasing the best of Western Australia’s agriculture, fresh produce and livestock. It’s Perth’s biggest community event attracting more than 400,000 people from the city and the country every year.

Although it was 11am, I sampled some great wines from local vineyards and was introduced to Sheena from The Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia who made me up a fresh tasting plate, all made with award winning produce from the area.

There are lots of different aspects to the show, but the section that really impressed me was the Kids Zone. Rather than thinking food just magically appears at the supermarket, children were being educated as to where their food comes from. Classes on how to grow your own veggies, learning about different cuts of meat on cattle, a whole host of kid’s cookery classes and taking turns in milking Bernice the fibreglass cow (udderly inspiring, arf arf).

A tradition at the Perth Royal Show is the show bags, and you can’t leave without one. They’re kind of like a Christmas stocking meets a birthday goodie bag at a discount price and people were going crazy for them. But the highlight of my day was witnessing the Perth Royal Show Rocket Man. Ever since Stalker Fireball in Running Man made an appearance, I’ve dreamed of them becoming a realistic mode of transport.

I only glimpsed The Rocket Man briefly, but what I DID see will stay with me forever!