He has played a few games for Canterbury in that time but we do not talk about that.
He is a South Dunedin boy come good and that is all we are interested in - that and whether he can help Otago turn around its flagging fortunes during the next four days.
Otago is playing Canterbury in Rangiora and the Black Caps skipper has been released by New Zealand Cricket to play in the match.
He sees it as ideal preparation for the Boxing Day test against Sri Lanka and is looking forward to it.
''I haven't played for the boys for a while but I've still got some good friends amongst the group and it has been good to get back in the blue and enjoy training with the lads,'' he said.
McCullum last played a first-class game for Otago in November 2011. It was against Central Districts at Lincoln and the game did not go too well.
McCullum was out for 26 in the first innings and the team was rolled for just 63 in its second innings and lost by an innings and seven runs.
McCullum has saved his best for the national side over the years but is approaching a minor milestone. He needs another 48 runs to bring up 1000 runs for Otago.
It would be a small footnote in what has been a quite remarkable year featuring a triple hundred and two double centuries in test cricket.
The 33-year-old has scored 969 in tests this year - more than any other New Zealand player - and has an opportunity to bring up 1000 runs during the Boxing Day test against Sri Lanka.
''It would be a nice stat to tick off but I'd take a test win any day. While I'm happy with the year, my focus had been very much on the team performance.''
A year ago, the word retirement was being tossed around. McCullum's back injury was starting to get on top of him and he had gone three years without posting a test hundred.
He turned it around with a century against the West Indies in Dunedin in December and has kept scoring runs, and lots of them.
''I wasn't in great shape this time last year from an injury point of view. My back injury is still there but I'm just managing it better ... and while I'm feeling good I've just got to make sure I enjoy my cricket.
''We've got the World Cup coming up and it would be nice to be part of that and be injury-free during that time.''
McCullum was promoted to opener for the test series against Pakistan to make room for an extra bowler. However, he will drop back to No5 for the tests against Sri Lanka despite scoring a double century in his last game.
''People wonder why you can't continue when you've done well but with the wickets we've seen in New Zealand over the last little while, you do need specialist openers.
In the [UAE] we needed that extra bowling option, but I'll go back down the order for the test matches back home.
''You have to have guys in your team who are able to do that because it allows you to be more strategic and use players based on the conditions you are coming up against.''
McCullum believes Otago's Hamish Rutherford is the logical choice to replace him at the top of the order. He has made changes over the winter and looked in fine touch for Otago last week.
