Within Turtle Swamp Wetlands, there was a wide trail amongst Australia’s best vegetation. If I’d visited in the spring, the ground would have been covered in wildflowers. But when I arrived on Russell Island, it was winter, or at least that’s what the locals thought a twenty-three degree day was.

The Bin-ging Trail got its name from the original inhabitants of the island, the Quandamooka peoples, meaning freshwater turtle. While we didn’t spy any turtles or freshwater along the short kilometre hike, squawking birds were all that broke the silence.