gwunspoken - Beyond the Plan
gwunspoken: Beyond the Plan
Hear the person beyond the plan.
This podcast is where NDIS participants, families, and supporters reclaim their narrative. We dive into life beyond the diagnosis, beyond the reports, and beyond the plans—exploring identity, strength, and voice.
Whether you're a parent seeking connection, a support worker craving understanding, or someone walking their own NDIS journey, this space is for you.
Because labels don’t define people—stories do.
gwunspoken - Beyond the Plan
From Cast Nets to Life Lessons: A Riverside Chat with Liam
A chance fishing trip along the Caboolture River becomes a window into the world of 12-year-old Liam, a young outdoorsman whose passion for fishing, camping, and adventure reveals refreshing insights about what truly matters to today's youth.
The conversation flows naturally as Liam shares his fishing exploits, from catching herring and mullet to his proudest achievement—landing a massive 35-40 kilo estuary cod at Stenwich Bay that "was about as heavy as me at that time." His eyes light up discussing future fishing aspirations—Barramundi, Mangrove Jack, and Red Emperor top his wishlist. What's particularly fascinating is how Liam has acquired his skills, learning knot-tying from his father while picking up cast net techniques from "some older fellow at the boat ramp," highlighting the beautiful way outdoor knowledge transfers across generations outside formal educational settings.
Beyond fishing tales, Liam offers touching glimpses into his family dynamics. He values his father for their camping adventures and fishing expeditions (with "lots of lollies" as a bonus), while appreciating his mother for being "supportive" and "there if I need her." When conversation shifts to school life, we see the typical pre-teen experience—struggling with English class, occasional conflicts with friends, and the challenge of emotional regulation. Despite his outdoor enthusiasm, Liam balances nature with technology, admitting his current favourite game "Grow a Garden" on Roblox is "really addictive." This honesty reveals the authentic juggling act young people navigate between digital worlds and natural environments.
Whether you're a parent seeking to understand today's youth better, an outdoor enthusiast wanting to reconnect with the simple joys of fishing, or someone curious about how modern children blend traditional activities with contemporary interests, this conversation offers genuine insights and warm reminders about what shapes a young person's development. Give it a listen, then share your own childhood outdoor memories with us!
Music. Welcome to an edition of Beyond the Plan, and I've got my mate Liam here. How are you, mate, good? How are you Good, thank you. Now, where are we?
Speaker 1:Where are we?
Speaker 2:leaving Well.
Speaker 1:Caboche River.
Speaker 2:Caboche River is our third time together. Yeah, yeah. And what did we catch today?
Speaker 1:A lot of um what's it called? The herringfish, aren't they yeah?
Speaker 2:And you caught a mullet as well. They're herring fish aren't they, yeah, and you cover mullet as well. Yeah well, one mullet, yeah nice, and you've got not many bites today. Yeah, oh nice, and you're a keen fisherman, aren't you?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because there's a chance that people are going to listen to this but they obviously can't see you. But I've got to meet you a few times, so I'm getting. I know you're an outdoor guy, so what kind of things do you like doing outdoors?
Speaker 1:Camping, fishing, soccer, crabbing I don't know if you were counting that was it Like playing I don't know games or something.
Speaker 2:Nurse going outside when people chase after you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, like everything that's good, I like how you're an outdoors guy, andfs going outside when people chase after you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like everything that's good. I like how you're an outdoors guy and you're very good with the cast net. So I want to ask you a question when did you learn all your fishing skills from? Because I've seen you tie hooks and I saw you put lures on, Like who's taught you all that stuff?
Speaker 1:Well, a bit from my mum, but a lot more from my dad.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, yeah, so you do a bit of teaching from your dad.
Speaker 1:Like the hook, well, the tying knots, and that is from like my dad, Like the cast net was from some like older, like fellow at the boat ramp, yeah, and like taught me how to throw a cast net.
Speaker 2:That's cool. So you taught or learned, or you learned from other people as well. So you must be good at listening too, eh, yeah, well, probably listening to things that interest you. Is that right? Yeah, yeah, nice. And you've lived at Burbank, gary, for how long? Um about eight years oh wow, and what grade are you in at school?
Speaker 1:Seven.
Speaker 2:Grade seven, which means you're 12?.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Turning turning this year, or 10, 10 next year.
Speaker 1:Next year.
Speaker 2:Next year? Okay, all right. So what else let's go through some things about? We're in the car, so that's why you can probably hear some background noise, people who listen to this, and the fishing rods are bouncing up and down the back. We're on the way back from fishing. Um, tell me something about. Well, here's a tricky question. I'm gonna ask straight up, ready what's something about liam?
Speaker 1:I don't know um, I don't know the tough one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know you like solo zero yeah I know like yeti. Yeah, I'm envious of your Yeti holder.
Speaker 1:You probably already know this, but I like lollies.
Speaker 2:Well, what's your favourite? Give us a favourite.
Speaker 1:You've got 10 bucks.
Speaker 2:It's like a raspberry thing with like sherbet in the middle oh, is it like a zapper or something like that they call no, it's like a circle thing.
Speaker 1:It's like that yeah, with a sherbet, oh nice, okay, so they're like the old licorice ones, but they've got sherbet in the middle it's like that raspberry and we won't talk about on the podcast the business you're doing at school, will we?
Speaker 2:no, let's just say is it is a business going well or is the business not going so well?
Speaker 1:Mid.
Speaker 2:Mid. Okay, righty-o, all right. So this weekend, you told me before. But for the people listening, what are you doing this weekend?
Speaker 1:I'm going possibly go-karting.
Speaker 2:Oh nice.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to go to a footy game.
Speaker 2:All right, and which game NRL?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Broncos with Dolphins.
Speaker 2:And who will you be going for?
Speaker 1:Obviously Dolphins.
Speaker 2:Oh, obviously. So you love the Dolphins. And do you have a favourite player or not? Cobbo.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, not Cobbo at all. Cobbo's coming there isn't he?
Speaker 2:Hammer, hammer, yeah, yeah, and Cobo's going there too, isn't he? Yeah, he's leaving the Broncos. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, All right. Well, it's just a quick podcast to get to know you. I'm going to ask you some really quick questions, if that's all right to do the game, and the game is. We're going to see how switched on you are.
Speaker 2:We're going to see none of you are switched on so you should find ask you a question and you have to answer it as fast as you can, very, please, okay. Favorite drink sour. Favorite food swagmans. What was that swagmans? Oh, okay, nice, um.
Speaker 2:Favorite hobby sock well fishing okay, favorite subject at school um will work all, do you have a best friend at school? Yeah, do you want to say who it is? Daniel, shout out to you mate. Very good Um favourite. Ooh, do you like summer season or winter season? Better Um winter. Okay, righty-o Um worst subject at school English.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was like you too. I didn't like English much. Anyway. Would you prefer a home cooked meal or fast food, home cooked? Oh, if I asked you this question, would you rather go to the cinema to watch a movie or watch a movie at home on Netflix? What would you prefer? Uh, movies and news. All right, do you have a specific type of movie you like? Happy going oh, not one or two, both both all right. Um worst thing that annoys you at school um, let's say japanese like schoolwork japanese schoolwork or schoolwork in general schoolwork in general all right.
Speaker 2:Um, what is the here's a tricky one for you. Have you ever been like really in trouble at school? Yes are you willing to share what you did? Yep, go on. Why are you smiling? We're going to give you a camera.
Speaker 1:We were in a fight basically, yeah Well, not that one it was. I got a buddy class, they called it. Where you go from, like you get in trouble and go to the class next door and my friend was annoying me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like well, he was like going like trying to make me laugh and that.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then he. Well then, I was starting to like laugh, but I was trying to like not laugh.
Speaker 2:So you wouldn't get in trouble.
Speaker 1:And then the teacher was like, why are you laughing in your buddy class?
Speaker 2:And then like, yeah, I would get in trouble for that and you'd blow up because it wasn't really your fault, because he made you laugh.
Speaker 1:Well, I just went with it.
Speaker 2:You just went with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, do you? Blow up very often at school, get angry, not really Not really If you were to get angry at school or at home what's the strategy to?
Speaker 1:calm you down, I don't know you don't have any Not that I can think of.
Speaker 2:So if you blow up and get angry, you don't just go for a walk or take some deep breaths, walk away, I don't know. Alright, we can work on that. What's the funniest thing you've ever seen at school or at home? What's the funniest thing you've seen? We're going to keep it PG, by the way.
Speaker 1:Probably, I can't remember.
Speaker 2:I don't think what would be the funniest. Are you a bit of a jokester? Are you like a prankster? Do you do stuff around the place?
Speaker 1:Yeah, um.
Speaker 2:I like actually you taking time to think, because this means you're using the higher order of thinking, which is good actually probably.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm just gonna go, like recently yeah, you're going when um we might have a fishing yeah he was casting and it was like his rob was like playing up or something. Um, for some reason it was like dropping and like doing really bad. And yeah, it was kind of funny. I kept laughing at him and then he kind of like was yelling at me.
Speaker 2:Because you were laughing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the more he yelled, the more you were trying not to laugh. No, all right. Well, you said you're going to go to maybe go-karting and maybe going to the football this weekend. Yeah, what's? I know you see like fishing too and camping that. But can you share with us too what is the best fish you've ever caught? Like it could be the biggest or the prettiest, it's up to you the biggest.
Speaker 1:An estuary cod.
Speaker 2:Oh nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Where did you catch that?
Speaker 1:Stenwich Bay oh.
Speaker 2:Oh, nice yeah, Where'd you?
Speaker 1:catch that Stenwich Bay. Oh lovely, go on yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did you fight much?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was probably 35 or like 40 kilo.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's huge.
Speaker 1:And at that point it was like about as heavy as me at that time.
Speaker 2:That's huge, that's cool. All right, and do you have like a dream fish that you'd like to catch in your lifetime, like, is there a big fish or something you'd love to say? I've actually caught one of these fish.
Speaker 1:Well, I got three mainly.
Speaker 2:That one.
Speaker 1:Barra. Yeah, yeah, that's about medium Mangrove Jack. Yeah, I kind of want to get one of them, like Red Emperor I want to get. There's a lot I want to get.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good. Well, you're young so you've got plenty of time to do that. You love fishing, so yeah, yeah, All right. A couple of quick personal ones to finish off. Best thing about your dad.
Speaker 1:He. We get lots of lollies. He takes me camping all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We go fishing all the time. Yeah, that's cool Lolly's are like the lower side though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, alright, and anything about Mum Um like she's supportive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can notice that with Mum yeah Um, she's like does all the medical stuff. She um like let's say she's there if I need her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she is. Yeah, that's good. That's awesome Because you're lucky, because a lot of parents aren't that active in their kids' lives. That's good.
Speaker 1:Now talk about siblings, brothers, sisters. What have we got. Two brothers brothers, sisters.
Speaker 2:What do we got two brothers yep nice and how's that?
Speaker 1:relationship, hot and cold, like most brothers and sisters. Yeah, yeah, like a little bit arguments, and they're here and there yeah, that's a lot, isn't it?
Speaker 2:that's good. And are you like a dessert kind of person? Do you like desserts? Yeah, like if I said to you, would you prefer a dessert kind of person? Do you like desserts? Yeah, if I said to you, would you prefer ice cream or thick shakes?
Speaker 1:what would you say? Ice cream? I don't know. Depends.
Speaker 2:Depends how you feel.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, it's Friday night. We've got about five minutes till I drop you off. What's the plan tonight To?
Speaker 1:What? What you do when you're home?
Speaker 2:probably shower a little fishy stuff off here, yeah, and then help dinner probably.
Speaker 1:Oh, you help. Yeah, yes, I don't have to do dishes oh, okay yeah, and then probably play some like games yep, do you have a favorite? Game. Um well, it's pretty popular at the moment, so so I've been playing it a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's called Grow a Garden. Okay, on Roblox.
Speaker 2:Okay, nice. Is it an addictive game? Do you want to stay on all the time?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really addictive. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:At least you're honest about that. All right, well, before you finish off the podcast, anything that you want to speak about.
Speaker 1:That I haven't spoken about. Not that I can think of, you can think of.
Speaker 2:Well, it's your first time on the podcast. Well done, being open, being honest, I love that the podcast is called Unspoken, which means that we talk about things that we usually don't talk about, or we probably should. So there could be people out there who want to listen to your story too and relate to you as well. So well done. Next time we have to catch a keeper hey, that's the goal. The goal is to catch a keeper. If you get to catch a keeper, what would you want it to be?
Speaker 1:Slardy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would agree. All right, mate. Well, thanks for coming on the show.