Of the countries I have written about to up to this point, Australia is the country I know the most intimately. It’s also one of the hardest to write about because it’s impossible to know where to start. I’m going to skip any pretence of providing useful facts about Australia. Besides, Bill Bryson does this way better than I ever could.

I lived in Brisbane for work for some time in 2014-15. I got to experience Australian coffee culture, it’s vast sandy beaches, weekend road-trips out into the jungle and Queensland’s extreme climate.

This coincided with one of my closest friends Mary living in Melbourne for a few years. We enjoyed lots of weekend adventures. Her family were even kind enough to share their Australian Christmas with Joe and I.

One time Mary visited Brisbane and we happened to spot Putin, Obama, Cameron, Hollande, Abbott and Merkel on one scorching Brisbane afternoon. From his body language, it was clear it wasn’t a good G20 for Putin - Australia attempting to ban Russia from the summit over its veiled invasion of Ukraine did not go down well.

I shared an apartment in Brisbane with my colleague Michaela. Looking back on it, living with a colleague on the other side of the world is kind of a risky move. Luckily it went incredibly well and we became close friends - I think this is mostly down to Michaela’s very patient, easy-going nature. We even shared a desk in the small office of Octopus Deploy in Brisbane CBD. There can’t be many people who can live together and share a desk designed for one person at work!

Michaela moved out to Australia in 2016 and from what I can tell hasn’t looked back. Australia, one day I too will return*!

* Provided I’m allowed back in... There may have been a tiny incident whereby I tagged a holiday on to the end of my work trip and accidentally overstayed my visa.