Get the value of a Cython pointer

Question

I am writing a function that constructs a malloc'd unsigned char * array, and then retuns the pointer. In pure Cython or C, this is easy. All you have to do is set a return type on the function, and return the pointer to the array. Done. However, I have reached a point where I need to return a pointer to an array created in Cython, to Python. I know that a pointer is simply the memory address. Is there any way that I can return a Cython pointer to Python as a python object (such as int or hex, because the memory address is essentially a number), so I can then basically manage pointers in python?

I have tried to return the value of the pointer like this:

cdef unsigned char array[8]

def return_pointer():
    return &array

This of course does not work because the conversion cant be done. Cython complains with Cannot convert 'unsigned char (*)[8]' to Python object. Any suggestions?

EDIT:

I do not need to access the value in the memory address referenced by the pointer in Python, only pass the pointer around. I then plan to use the Python object pointer, and call c functions with it as an argument.