Personal Story

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue46 1–30 November 2023

Hi I am Cate, (the new Michelle :)), newly arrived to Stromlo.  

My husband, Garth, and I arrived in Canberra August 2017 and have made Canberra our forever home. We actually honeymooned in Canberra March 1995 and even had a BBQ lunch near the visitors centre after going through all the domes when they were operational. Something quite a few of the newer students would not have been able to see.
We have two grown young men, Kris and Rhyan and daughter-in-law, Skye. Both sons are not in Canberra and we love seeing them when they come home for a visit.

Before Canberra, we lived for 12 years in a lovely little town called Mudgee where we enjoyed going out on random drives and hikes thru the bush around the area and even stayed a few times at Siding Spring doing the “tourist” visit there. (Mudgee is where the TV series “Doctor, Doctor” was filmed.) Prior to Mudgee we lived briefly in Tasmania, moving there from the Blue Mountains where Garth and I first met.

Work wise, I started working as a sales assistant at K-mart before applying for a manager in training role. I was successful in obtaining this and started my 31 year long career in Retail Management. Before moving to Canberra I was the Store Manager for Best & Less for 15 years in many different stores in NSW and Tasmania, finally settling in Mudgee and growing this store from its second year of trading to one of the more profitable stores for the retail chain.

When moving to Canberra we knew it would be a good time for me to move on from retail sales into a different field, but I ended up back in retail working for Reece Plumbing Group in their air-conditioning sector, Metalflex. Nearly 6 years later I finally made the decision to change careers and ended up landing the position here with RSAA.

Thanks for all the warm welcomes I have received since starting and I am looking forward to meeting you all. Please bear with me as I settle in and I promise to try to remember your names. (It will take me some time!!)