If These Trees Could Talk

What happens when full-time travel pushes you beyond your comfort zone? 

In this episode, Australian van life creators Daniel and Elyse (Quittin’ & Trippin’) step into an experience that challenges everything they thought they knew about comfort, freedom, and living on the road.

This honest conversation goes beyond travel Australia content—it explores what full-time van life really asks of you. The uncomfortable moments, the unexpected growth, and the reality of choosing a life outside the norm.

If you’ve ever dreamed about van life in Australia, slow travel, or leaving behind routine for something more intentional, this episode offers a raw and refreshing perspective on what that actually looks like.

When the Thing You Resist Becomes Exactly What You Need 

There are moments we almost walk away from.

The quiet no. The hesitation. The resistance we trust without questioning. And yet… sometimes those are the very moments that hold something we didn’t realise we needed.

In this episode, we step into one of those almost-no’s and what unfolded is not just a reflection on that time, but an exploration of the subtle shifts that occur when we step outside of routine, into nature, and back into ourselves. For more information on today's adventure or to book your place in our upcoming retreat visit www.ifthesetreescouldtalk.com.au.

A Survivor Story About Grooming, Trauma, and Healing 
 

In this powerful and deeply personal conversation, Shannon speaks with writer, poet and advocate Kat Mackay about surviving grooming, sexual assault, and the long journey of healing after trauma.

Kat lives with Dissociative Identity Disorder and throughout the episode refers to themselves using “we” and “us.” This reflects the way their internal system experiences and expresses identity, and we invite listeners to approach this with curiosity, respect and understanding.  

Kat shares how childhood isolation and a lack of safety at home led them to seek belonging through childhood interest based spaces. While some mentors offered genuine support and guidance, one ultimately misused that position of trust — introducing Kat to a prominent public figure who groomed and sexually assaulted them.

Together, Shannon and Kat explore the hidden dynamics of grooming, the impact trauma can have on identity and relationships, and what it means to reclaim agency, voice, and safety after abuse.

Trigger Warning:This episode discusses sexual assault, grooming, trauma, and survivor recovery. We invite listeners to approach the conversation with gentleness  for both Kat, and themselves.

The Dismantling of an International Sex Trafficking Network

 

This episode begins in Cairns, Queensland, and follows the international child exploitation case involving Peter Truong and Mark Newton. From encrypted hard drives to coordinated cross-border law enforcement, this is the story of how a global trafficking network was exposed and dismantled.

At a time when the handling of high-profile sex trafficking cases continues to raise public questions, this case offers a powerful contrast: what becomes possible when Victim Protection is the priority.

Trigger Warning: Contains discussion of child sexual abuse, grooming and trafficking.
Support services and full episode references are available at ifthesetreescouldtalk.com.au

In this second and final part of our conversation, and the first episode of What Would They Say, Rob reflects on the life that followed those two days in 1977 and the quiet, complicated aftermath of surviving something so public and so traumatic.

He speaks about the years that came after the siege in Wooreen, Victoria, the lingering impact of being taken hostage by escaped gunman Edwin John Eastwood, and the responsibility he carried long after the headlines faded.

But this chapter is not defined by fear. It is about what Rob calls “Health after hurt” — the deliberate, ongoing work of healing, understanding trauma, and choosing growth over silence.

Now decades on, Rob shares how that experience shaped not only his life but his purpose, and how he supports others navigating their own trauma with empathy, steadiness, and hard-earned insight.

This episode is a story of resilience, perspective, and the profound influence one survivor can have when they decide their pain will not be the end of their story.