Though Sydney born and bred, Catterns made several forays into Australia's regional areas after her earlier city-based career. For example, her first job as a radio announcer was at 2LM, in the north coast town of Lismore, NSW. Around this time, Catterns had several of her original poems published in an anthology of Australian women's poetry, the controversial Mother I'm Rooted, edited by Kate Jennings. After living and working in Lismore, Catterns headed to Orange, NSW for her first job working in television, at the area's CBN 8 channel. Catterns also worked as a voiceover artist at this time for the Orange radio station 2GZ.