Postcards Finale… Keith

In recent days, since the dreaded announcement of our demise, the team has been really tickled by your feedback about how much you love the show. In some ways we're a bit like an old pair of slippers - comfortable, even homely. But over the years, we've also been a very modern multimedia outfit. Thanks to local IT guru, David Tichy of World Wide Web Architects, we've been on the web longer than Google. So the scripts about these far-flung attractions have been accessible internationally from day one. International visitors plan their visit on the web and your relatives in Manchester or Milan can even watch this segment and hundreds of others tomorrow. The figures are staggering: 200,000 people log onto www.postcards-sa.com.au month and look at 1.1 million pages - that's 1.1 million pages of South Australian stories. We also have the biggest collection of video clips of any Australian website - and yep - they are all on South Australia.

We're happy to know, too, a lot of our stories live on in the thousands of Postcards books on your shelves. There have been 3 collections of yarns. And thousands of DVDs in South Aussie homes-and as gifts overseas too preserve some of our epics. The trip from Adelaide to Darwin on the Ghan is seen as one of the great railway journeys of the world. It sure lived up to its reputation for us.

But making a DVD about the magnificent Murray River was the most special. We traced it from its origins up in the Snowy Mountains. It was a magic moment for me to stand in the burbling trout stream that eventually becomes a vital life force of 2,000 kms on its way to the sea on our encounter coast. Even in the drought, with its frailty all too obvious, it offered endless beautiful pictures and monumental yarns.

It has been a dream job, I'm sure you'll agree. Finding new reasons to enjoy the obvious delights, and of course heading off on those roads less travelled. Unknown names, places, experiences we didn't know were there. Like the Dare's Hill track… Where's that? Not far north of Burra.

There have been hundreds more. My top recommendation for a byway? It's more of a rollercoaster ride really. Stick Arkaroola on your bucket list and pencil in the Ridgetop Tour. You will never forget the final rush to the top of Siller's Lookout!

From the ochres of the vast outback to the sparkling southern ocean, we've tracked back and forth ever since Postcards began in 1995. Ask any member of the Postcards crew their favourite spot and you'll find we can't tell you. It's too hard. But for me, the place and the story that had the most impact on me personally sits at the bottom of Eyre Peninsula. Researching that famous encounter between Matthew Flinders and Nicholas Baudin brought an understanding of the tragedy behind the names Flinders gave to coastline features: Cape Catastrophe and Memory Cove. The young explorer lost 8 good men when they headed off in a cutter looking for water. The next morning he went ashore in search of them. Thinking about our re-enactment of that scene still makes the hair on my neck stand up.

What wonderful moments we've all had on Postcards' record 16 year run. In fact, thanks to you Postcards is South Australia's longest running local TV show ever!

Quite an achievement - and this is quite an achievement too. Keith and Ron are now officially South Australians of the Year in the Tourism category - a gong handed out by Advantage SA. The accolades don't stop there. Ron also won this year's South Australian Tourism Award for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual. Just for the record - the program has received four South Australian Tourism Awards earning a place in the South Australian Tourism Hall of Fame. We've also won two National Tourism Awards.

So, more than 600 episodes and more than 3,000 stories later - the end has arrived. We've been blessed with outstanding and continuing support from you, the Postcards regulars. It has been a privilege to have you with us and time has come.

From the Postcards team… Goodbye…