I rarely turn down the chance to try something new or strange. Reptile expo with live demos? Sounds great. Monster truck rally? Yeah, why the hell not. Vape show in town? Sure, I’ll check it out. Indoor virtual reality skydiving? I AM THERE. Who cares that “indoor virtual reality skydiving” as a concept doesn’t make a lick of sense? Let’s give it a rip!

Samsung's Gear VR has always been one of the most accessible and more popular platforms for virtual reality, but it's been hampered by a lack of any reasonable input method for too long. Until now. Launching alongside the new Galaxy S8 and S8+, Samsung's refreshed Gear VR includes a wireless, motion-sensitive controller with a trigger that seems to be screaming out for a virtual reality reimagining of Time Crisis or Point Blank.

It'll come as no surprise that virtual reality costs ... a lot. But it doesn't have to be that way.

In the wake of Samsung's throttling of the Galaxy Note7 for good last night, Oculus has followed suit by removing all support for the Note7 from their mobile-powered Gear VR and offering refunds to affected users.

It seems like just about every kid with a passing interest in technology has been touched by Minecraft in some way. I've heard some parents complain about how it's the only thing their children want to play.

So good news! There's a new way to play Minecraft. Which totally involves them becoming immersed in a way that will happily let you ignore them for hours. Probably. But there's a problem.

After years of stomach-churning anticipation, it's all over -- the VR headsets of the future are here. The Rift gives you an engaging experience with a handful of excellent games. Meanwhile, the Vive gives you unprecedented control of your virtual surroundings. But as extraordinary as both devices are, they're absolute bunk compared to the best VR headset of this generation: the Samsung Gear VR.

This is a photo of our indomitable morning editor Amanda having her first experience with virtual reality. She's renowned in the office for her sardonic wit and deadpan delivery. It's fitting given she's also one of the more cynical when it comes to new films, new games and new tech.

This photo is the most outwardly excited I've seen Amanda since I've known her. And that uninhibited joy: That was the same reaction from everyone else who tried the Gear VR.

I've been playing one of the latest Samsung phones for the last fortnight, precisely for one reason: the Gear VR headset that came with it. Mobile VR is supposedly going to be the actual catalyst for VR to take off in this country, if you listen to analysts. And that makes some sense: it doesn't cost hundreds, or thousands, of dollars.

But the Gear VR isn't a perfect piece of tech, and over the past two weeks I've tried, and failed, to conquer a certain milestone.

These are my eyes. Normally they are surrounded by thick frames with thicker glass. But now that virtual reality is a thing, I needed room on my face for other things. After nearly three decades I'm switching from eyeglasses to contacts.

The HTC Vive costs over $1400 to ship to Australia. The Oculus Rift will set you back more than $1100, and that doesn't include anything extra for the touch controllers. We don't know how much PlayStation VR will cost, but Sony has announced that it will be at least the cost of a console.

In short, virtual reality will cost quite a bit. But that won't stop around 110,000 units from being sold in Australia this year, if analysts Telsyte are right.

I don't know how successful it'll be at furthering the proliferation of portable virtual reality, but if you're one of those who are interested in picking up the Samsung Gear VR then Oculus has been working hard to create something to pique your interest.

You won't be shocked to learn that watching Bernie Sanders shout about email is not virtual reality's killer app. I watched Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate on my Gear VR, using Next VR in the Oculus store, and the aesthetic experience was markedly worse than watching the debate on TV, like a normal person. I know this because I shifted back to plain old CNN several times -- when my Samsung Galaxy phone overheated, when the video froze, and when the novelty just plain wore off.