There are lot memories to take home but the most emotional moment has been when I was touching down in New Delhi. Tears rolled down when I saw the red soil in Delhi from the plane.

We need to rekindle those values, those strengths as a nation and as a people... And we must do so as one people with one goal.

When I was travelling in Rajasthan people were waving hands, and it felt like I was visiting my own constituency.

As a child in the rural district of Penal I remember sharing meals from the same pot with neighbours of different racial, ethnic, social and economic backgrounds.

Men don't want to be confused by the facts when their minds are already made up. Women know the art of negotiation - just ask the mother of a four-year-old who refuses to eat his veggies or the parent of a teenager.

I am my own woman…and was, long before I became Prime Minister. Attending to my family’s needs only made me stronger as a leader because if you know how to run a home and ensure each person’s particular need is met, it’s the best leadership training you can have.

Today is indeed an historic occasion when as a first chair-in-office woman I hand over to another woman chair in office, your Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, in the presence of a woman head of the Commonwealth, Her Royal Highness, Her Majesty the Queen of England.