My Timeline & Major Events

14 July 2024 – Remembering Dad

My Memory of Dad

Good morning. Today we gather to remember a man who had a full heart for his family, a man of unwavering support and pride, and a man who embodied the spirit of adventure. Many here knew him as Peter, Pete, Pedro, Son, Brother, or Poppy. To my brothers and I, he was Dad.

Some of my earliest memories of Dad involve him coming home after a hard day on the tools at Michell Truck Bodies, smelling of welded metal and covered in black soot and grease. When we heard the old diesel Nissan Patrol roll up the driveway, we (the boys) would run like dogs for their owners returning home. His exhaustion would instantly vanish as we grabbed onto his legs, and he would walk up the driveway like a giant until he handed over our treat for the day. My favorites were the Kinder surprises or Yowies. We were even able to witness this in reverse in more recent years, as the grandchildren would run up the driveway and burst through the backdoor, screaming “Poppy” when they saw him at the back table.

Everyone here would remember Dad as a man who loved his footy and sports. We grew up playing a lot of sport, and he was always there to cheer us on at every game, match, and event. He would even provide us with a little monetary incentive by saying, “Every try (or goal) you score, I’ll give you $5.” This tradition carried on until his final days, where his youngest grandchild, Finn, scored five tries in a single game just a few weeks ago. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he was handed over five crisp $5 notes. He was ecstatic. Dad was an avid poster on Facebook and was proud to share the achievements of his kids (and grandkids). Only a few days ago did I realize just how proud he must have been of myself and family. Scrolling through his Facebook, I almost thought it was my personal fan page of my recent running adventures. It was then that I realized that I have not only lost my father but my number one fan and supporter. But I know he’ll still be cheering us on in spirit.

Dad always had a sense of adventure and would tell us about his big trip around Australia back in his glory days. I’d like to think this is where I have found my own sense of adventure. In more recent days, Dad would always be telling us about his new plans or showing us his latest bike riding adventures with Rick or Kevin or the rest of the gang. From crossing sketchy bridges to showing us footage where he or one of his mates had fallen off, no matter how rough the day or terrain, there was always one thing constant at the finish line: a hard-earned thirst and a big cold beer. And boy, did he love a big cold beer.

Dad’s life was cut short, but the memories of his love for family, his unwavering support, and his adventurous spirit will forever be a part of us. I’d like to finish on a lighter note on one last trait of Dad’s, even if it was a bit hit or miss: his humor. Even towards the end, in the cancer center receiving chemotherapy treatment, he had a sense of humor and would look on the bright side. The nurses would ask him, “How are you feeling today, Pete?” And every time, without fail, he’d reply back with “Like a Tooheys or two.” I hope everyone can remember Dad in the way he’d appreciate later today, with a Tooheys or two in hand.

Thank you (all for your support)

More Kind Words

Firstly, thank you all for coming. It is great to see so many of Peter’s family and friends here today.

My name is Michael and I am Pete’s proud brother-in-law.

Peter John Michell was a bloody good bloke…

Whether you called him Speck, Pedro, Peter John, or simply Pete, he was always ready to listen and to help anyone, especially over a beer. He was loved by all, as shown in the hundreds of messages on Facebook.

His favorite things in life were having a chat with a beer and a smoke, hitting a little white ball around a course (Member 1785 at Tamworth), riding his beloved motorbike with mates Rick Maher, Kev Cameron, Phil Orman, or the Froud Brothers, or best of all, spending time with family and especially his grandchildren.

Pete was born on the 4th of July 1963, and it was no coincidence that he was born on Independence Day as independent as he was!

As a little boy, he tested his mother’s well-known patience by being the first to jump off the 10-foot cabana into the pool or climbing, as quickly as he could, to the top of the radio antenna at Railway St. A larrikin he was.

Pete loved music and he bought many a vinyl record from Mario down at Tamworth Music. Every Saturday morning around 10, Suzie Quatro or Led Zeppelin would blare out from his room. He had it so loud that people all the way in town in Peel St would often ring Julie and ask her to please turn off that dreadful music. So keen was he on Led Zeppelin that he even got the Hermit portrait tattooed on his shoulder.

Peter’s sporting prowess was first on display at Little Athletics. In his white shorts, his white Bonds singlet with the big maroon “T” on the front, Pete was often seen racing down the track in first place… a huge smile on his face.

In the winter months, Pete played footy and was pretty damn good. “The Billy Slater of Tamworth,” I heard some people say, even though he wore his beloved No. 7. He played in the Under 9 rep team that went to Sydney and won, but don’t ask John to remember it. Apparently, the parents partied so hard that night that scotch was being drunk from flower vases by the end of the night.

His junior league career blossomed, and he played in many winning teams, especially many rep regional teams. The highlight would have been the Under 18 Grand Final for West’s where he played fullback. Michael McKinnon and his teammates can still remember his blistering speed from the back half and his terrific ball skills.

He never really liked school and decided that there was more to life than sitting in a classroom… there’s that independent kid. A trade career beckoned, and after several jobs, he decided to become a welder. At 19, he left the nest and traveled the outback for 12 months on his beloved bike. He then returned to Tamworth to join the family business. “He’s a better welder than me,” his father would often tell me, and together they built the Michell family business to what it is today.

Talking of the business, Peter’s legendary morning teas must be mentioned. His 10-minute smoko often turned into 40 with his mum preparing his favorite meals, whether it be Vegemite on scones or a meat pie (at just the right temperature). The world stopped when Julie’s little “Pettey” came home for smoko.

Pete was the only but far the most special boy to his Mum Julie. He was the apple of her eye and could do no wrong… much to the disgust of his 3 sisters. But it must be said that Peter truly was a wonderful son.

After settling into a working life, he rekindled his love for his kindergarten sweetheart, the lovely Sharon, his rock, his pillar. And in 1988 (14th April), he married her right here at St. Nick’s.

Three terrific boys soon followed, and the Michell family was complete. All the boys have grown up to be fine, strapping, young men with careers of their own… Pete was very proud.

Pete was a fine husband, a great dad, and a fantastic grandfather.

We will all miss him.

Thank you.

I will now hand you over to Ross.

From Vegemite to Venti: From Sydney to Seattle: The Beginning of my Expat Life

TLDR: It’s Feb 2024 and I’m moving to the United States to become an Expat!

G’day from Seattle to all my mates back home in Australia. Today, I’m not just sharing a travel story, I’m living it. That’s right, I’ve officially taken the plunge and swapped Vegemite for Venti, crocs for gators, XL to XXXXL. As of 26 Feb 2024, Kelli and I have moved to Seattle, Washington to begin our expat lives.

Why?

So why the big move, you ask? The truth is, it wasn’t one specific reason, but a whole heap of them! A part of me has always craved new experiences, and let’s face it, Australia is fantastic, but there’s a whole other world out there to explore. It’s all largely linked to my other recent post Making the Most of Now

This was actually one of my longest plans to come to fruition. I can still recall clearly when I was still working at Woolworths and went for a walk around the block with a mate/colleague and I realised that I wanted to try something, not just an industry, but a culture, a society and way of thinking. I wanted to be working somewhere ‘cool’. I wanted to see what it’s like working at a ‘hip’ place. I want to see what running and other adventures are out there. 

How did I make it happen?

So from that day of roughly 2.5 years ago, I hatched a plan and started to make it happen. First, I had to figure out what I wanted and why; cool companies, trail running, big national parks and a way to make it happen fast. United States – boom. Yosemites, Google, Amazon, but making it happen fast wasn’t an option…. Long story short, working rights are tough to get, so I had to go the long way around and find a job at an Multinational company operating in Australia and pray that they give me an international transfer. I’m not really the religious type, so I found an opportunity at Amazon AU and made sure I performed and did what I could to get the transfer. Skip forward 2.5 years, to Feb 2024.

Moving to Seattle, WA, United States

Pros and Cons thus far

Sydney / Australia Pros
Seattle / United States Pros
  1. Home of the NRL
  2. Things Feel Cheaper: No Tipping and tax included in prices make buying things and eating out very simple.
  3. Culture and Society feels more environmentally aware (although still have a long way to go)
  4. Feels safer
  1. There’s just more of everything. Food, people, portions and destinations to explore
  2. People are very into everything: Sports, politics, pop-culture, you name it
  3. There a way to make a lot of money over here, I just haven’t found it yet…

Adventure is Out There!

My ever-growing travel map of the US and beyond. Come say ‘Hi’!

My Life Throughout COVID

Life through COVID was a change – it presented me with opportunities and challenges. I’ve tried a new format of of showing my life throughout these times: Story Maps: https://storymap.knightlab.com/. See my test Story Map below:

One of the main things I wanted to get out of creating a blog was a way to autobiograph-ise my life. I like dates, timestamps and visuals – so I went in search of something of the Timeline variety to record, remember and relive my life. After all, my biggest fear is to look back on my life and regret not doing enough

I stumbled upon an amazing, innovative site Knightlab which is all free to use their templates on Storytelling – Timelines and Storylines being my 2 favourites. 

Hours upon hours of my time went into the creation of this:

  1. Planning – design, template dates, highlights, databases, storage, naming conventions, etc
  2. Scouring my Memories – Looking through photos (Google Photos is a great tool), memories, talking with friends for memories, old photo albums and others to pull out the moments in my life that I want to look back on and remember. Those critical moments where I achieved or learned something amazing. Or just something funny happened.
  3. Putting it all together – writing the memoirs, making the short highlights videos, uploading everything, ensuring everything works and the main point, redoing it all every (year?) to keep it up to day.

Without further adieu, the Timeline of Ross Michell until the end of 2020 (as of time of writing).

Again, I would strongly recommend everyone to find your own way to record, remember and relive your own life. This last few weeks has been a saviour with COVID lockdowns coming back into Sydney, it has helped me reconnect with people and myself looking back on these memories and learnings.

“…After all, these are not the memoirs of an empress, nor of a queen. These are memoirs of another kind.” – Memoirs of a Geisha