We say farewell to Ricos

It was with a heavy heart and a teeny weeny little frog in my throat that I said goodbye to Steve earlier today. By now he's airborne, winging his way north across the Northern Territory of Australia, perhaps peering out of his window and spotting Uluru, thousands of feet beneath him, wondering if he'll ever come this way again.

Steve has been my travelling companion and best friend for the last nine months. In a little over a day's time, he'll be back with you lot, looking forward to round upon round of homecoming celebrations. Of course, I'm a little bit jealous, but I imagine he's feeling very torn up indeed by the reality of his situation - to be going home is a wonderful thing, but to know the greatest adventure of your life has come to an end, well, that has to be pretty hard.

But, as I said to him earlier on, his decision to go home isn't such a big one, in the scale of things, although it may seem that way now. There are bigger decisions to come for both of us, and better adventures to be be had. I look forward to these new adventures, and I have little doubt that many of them we will share, in one way or another.

Au revoir, Ricos - your friends in Oz will miss you, you bloody great ogmonster