Cate Noonan

Cate Noonan was born in Kew Gardens, part of the borough of Queens in New York. Apart from a family trip to Europe in her teens, she spent her growing years in and around that neighborhood. Living in a quiet dead end street off Metropolitan Avenue, Cate attended the local public school before heading off to nearby Junior and High Schools. Cate credits the amount of time she spent on bus rides to school every morning and afternoon for the reason she now avoids buses, now preferring the ramble of a Melbourne city tram!

Having completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Relations, Cate decided to take a break before making the decision to continue studying or attempting to find a job. Choosing to join a school friend on a holiday to Thailand proved to be more life changing than Cate (or her family) dreamed. While learning to wind surf in Phuket, she (literally) ran into Darren, an Aussie enjoying his own sabbatical from university. Whether it was the stoicism with which Darren endured his injury (which grows every time Darren tells the story) or their shared love of movies, there was an obvious chemistry from the beginning.

Cate and Darren were inseparable for the rest of the Thai holiday, enjoying nearly everything the resort and beaches had to offer (except there was no more windsurfing). Over the next eighteen months, Cate stayed in touch via computer finding it hard to meet, as schedules and finances made this difficult. Cate had found employment at a medium sized New York PR Company and had joined the daily commute. Darren was establishing his own career in the Melbourne finance community.

In 2012, Darren took extended leave and joined Cate in New York. As this time came to an end, Darren proposed (yes, on top of the Empire State Building to the sounds of Whitney’s I’ll Always Love You on the saxophone). Cate accepted before either of them really considered the implications of the living arrangements.

Not one, but two weddings followed. One was a small ceremony at a registry office in New York, the second a larger affair in Melbourne with both families and many friends in attendance.

Since 2013, Cate has settled in Australia (too long a story as to how that decision was made) and is on track to become an Australian citizen in 2018.