Opinion: I've thought a lot about what I'm most proud of at TV3 as these final days have approached.
There have been so many personal highlights, enough to fill a couple of careers, but in typically TV3 style where the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts; it's been the success of our entire newsroom which shines brightest for me.
That's because behind every great story you've ever seen on the telly there's invariably been a team of people making sure it got to air. Particularly in the field of Foreign Affairs reporting from the far flung corners of the world.
I remember just after I started at TV3 in April of 2001, John Campbell was lamenting how we'd often lose a sizeable chunk of our audience to TVNZ when something "big" happened.
He said when Princess Diana died he could have spent the week reading the news nude and no one would have noticed.
A few months later something "big" happened.
In the early hours of a Wednesday morning in September I was woken by phone call from a producer breathlessly claiming the world was ending.
I switched my television on in time to see a second airliner fly straight into New York's Twin Towers.
9/11 had an impact on all of us, but for me it was life changing.
For the next decade or so I travelled the world covering conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. There were other conflicts too, and in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza I reported multiple times.
These were big and important stories to tell. And often we were the only crew from New Zealand telling them.
No one teaches you how to be a war correspondent, and until you're faced with the uncertainty that comes with it, it's hard to know how you'll react.
The bond you form with your camera operator is crucial as you literally trust each other with your lives. Early on I teamed up with Michael 'Dutchie' Lacoste - a total legend who's work ethic and passion was endless. Just as well.
There were many times we slept rough - like on a grass verge on the outskirts of an Israeli settlement in Gaza - only to be woken by a water sprinkler, or on the concrete back porch of a house while we covered the devastating Haiti earthquake.
And other times we survived on the barest of rations - because it was more important to carry equipment than food.
Conflicts and natural disasters are physically and mentally hard stories to tell. But I can't remember a second where I ever wanted to be anywhere else at that time.
I have always felt it a privilege to tell those stories, although back in the early 2000s it came with fair amount of criticism.
The process of sending a correspondent into a major news event was often pejoratively described as "parachute journalism" by various media commentators, and I was often called on to defend it.
I can only think at the time it was some kind of "cultural cringe" mentality where our own reporters weren't seen as being worthy of covering international events.
Our audience didn't think that way. They bloody loved it.
Having our own voice at these major news stories became crucial - and expected. We're not American and we're not British, so why would we rely on broadcasters from those countries for our news coverage?
The Iraq War was a perfect example. As a nation we successfully demonstrated against joining the US and British led military coalition. When it came to covering that war, of course we wanted our own voice there.
I'd been sharing a room with producer Stephen Davis at the hideously expensive Marriot Hotel in Kuwait in an effort to save money. Stephen liked to sleep naked, and on the morning of the first US air strike against Iraq I woke to find him standing over me with the TV remote in his hand, yelling something about the television. Unavoidably it wasn't the TV I was staring at, and I said "Jesus, war better have broken out."
It had.
It was a simple plan - drive our Mitsubishi Pajero from Kuwait up the middle of Iraq to Baghdad.
It almost came unstuck near Nasiriyah, roughly halfway between the Kuwait border and Baghdad, and the scene of some fierce fighting during the war.
We got a flat tyre and to our horror when we went to change it we discovered we didn't have a jack.
On our own, in the middle of nowhere and with dusk approaching, we were contemplating driving on the flat tyre when we spotted another four-wheel-drive coming our way. It pulled over and the sole occupant jumped out and said: "You guys need a hand?" It was only a handful of words, but they had welcome familiarity about them. I said: "That'd be great - that's a not Kiwi accent, is it?"
He turned out to be a former New Zealand SAS soldier who was now in charge of security for the BBC. He, of course, had not one but three jacks in his vehicle.
There have been countless times over the years where pure luck or the kindness of strangers has got me and my crew out of some pretty sticky situations. They're humbling experiences which I will always be thankful for.
We've been blessed as a news service to have such wonderful Europe, Australia, US and Pacific correspondents. Simply great journos and story tellers.
There have been many nights I've sat in the studio watching their work in awe.
At Three we've created a rich legacy of foreign affairs reporting and at the centre of it all has been incredible teamwork. It hasn't just been covering conflict or disaster but also uplifting moments in our history like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cups. Wonderful team environments that are amongst my career highlights.
And through it all we always strived to tell the very best stories. TV3 stories.
Now that's something to be proud of.
