steve irwin journey to the red centre

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The Crocodile Hunter

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Journey to the red center (2000), steve irwin: self.

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Full List of The Crocodile Hunter Episodes

Steve Irwin's Most Dangerous Adventures!

Wildest baby animals videos, wildest home videos, ocean's deadliest, steve's story, steve and the dragon, journey to the red centre, africa's deadliest snakes, faces in the forest, crocodiles of the revolution, graham's revenge, sidewinders of arizona, america's deadliest snakes, hidden river, big croc diaries, wild in the usa, australia's wild frontier, jungle in the clouds, return to the wild, reptiles of the deep: saurians, freshwater crocs, the crocodile hunter goes west, elephants and orange people, outlaws of the outback ii, reptiles of the deep: sea snakes, reptiles of the deep: turtles, sleeping with crocodiles, wild river of africa, dangerous americans.

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Steve Irwin to RM Williams: the most memorable outback characters

26 February 2021

In the red dusty expanse, single-minded, eccentric and sometimes utterly insane personalities thrive. And without question it’s the people who have formed a special bond with the outback that make it so wonderful and unique. Sol Walkling looks at just a few of the amazing people out there who have made the outback what it is today.

Those born into the seemingly inhospitable wilderness hundreds of kilometres from what most people would consider civilisation consider themselves lucky and rarely leave the place. Some, like Ian Conway, have become modern-day pioneers. The son of an Arunta woman and a Kidman boss drover, Ian grew up on Angas Downs station, three hours southwest of Alice Springs. As a boy, he learned everything there was to know about camels from his Aboriginal grandmother – and transformed that traditional knowledge into his daily bread when he decided to invite tourists in for a cuppa and some bush tucker at his Kings Creek homestead to share his love for the land.

Today, the outback camel station and eco lodge owner is the leading exporter of camels in Australia (he also co-founded the Camel Industry Association), plays host to regular documentary film crews as well as tourists and has even retraced Ernest Giles’ steps on his favourite camel, Atwa. It mightn’t seem like a traditional life, but Ian considers himself a keeper of the land – here to look after it until he’s gone – like those before him.

Ian Conway at Kings Canyon. (Image: Tourism NT)

Robyn Davidson

Tracks, A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback, is the title of a travelogue by this adventuress extraordinaire, whose story also involves camels. Her preparations and taming of the temperamental animals took two years, not counting the countless hours spent looking for them every morning before each day’s ride. Robyn set out on her dangerous and crazy-sounding journey in 1977 practically by herself – dog and four camels aside – to learn about the desert and its traditional owners. She came back an infamous hero who’d walked at times clothed in nothing but her own skin.

Solo trekker Robyn Davidson and Andrew Harper on the Western Simpson Desert Trek. (Image: Camel Tracks)

Burke and Wills

In 1860, Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills famously attempted to cross Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria in order to become the first Europeans to open up the uncharted territory at the heart of Australia. Despite being pretty inexperienced bushmen, they actually completed the north-south part of the journey with their 18-strong team, before perishing on the return journey in June 1861 at Coopers Creek.

Although seven people died and only John King, who was in charge of the camels, made it all the way back to Melbourne, the expedition did serve to increase our knowledge of central Australia – and at least disproved once and for all the fanciful notion of an inland sea.

Burke and Wills at the Dig Tree, painted by Sir John Campbell Longstaff in the late 1800s.

Steve Irwin

A more recent tragic hero’s death in Queensland moved the world, not just Australia. Our beloved Crocodile Hunter, conservationist and self-proclaimed Wildlife Warrior’s rare gift with animals and his larger than life personality earned him worldwide recognition. With his “Crikey” catchcry, broad smile and sparkling eyes, he captured TV audiences and sparked an interest in his conservationist message.

He died in 2006 after a stingray’s spine pierced his chest. (Interestingly, a series of suspected revenge attacks on stingrays along the Qld coast soon followed, with several found with their spine-tails severed.)

Steve’s daughter, Bindi, who seems to have inherited Dad’s sunny personality, wowed audiences at his memorial service at Australia Zoo, the family’s home, when she gave a speech in front of more than 5000 people, beginning with the words: “My Daddy was my hero.” Bindi has since become a celebrity in her own right – just as her father had predicted – with her own TV show, DVD, appearances on US chat shows, and as the youngest ever front-page model for New Idea in 2006. She is also a zookeeper at Australia Zoo and continues her father’s conservation work.

The one and only Steve Irwin, RIP. Image by Paul Williams, www.sardrabbit.com

RM Williams

To survive in the outback it helps to be a jack-of-all-trades. Reginald Murray Williams was born over a century ago, in May 1908, and it was during one of his first jobs in WA – helping to establish a mission for Aboriginals – that he found the inspiration for his life: the Indigenous Australians’ mastery over their environment.

His job descriptions were as varied as the outback is vast, ranging from horse breeder to miner to stonemason, author and entrepreneur. If it hadn’t been for a chance encounter with a man known as Dollar Mick, who knew how to make pack saddles, RM would’ve likely stayed a very successful (but far lesser-known) well-sinker.

Together with Dollar, he perfected the art of boot making using only a single piece of leather, before opening a workshop in Adelaide. His skills must have been rather extraordinary as his first overseas order came from no less than the King of Nepal. In combination with a successful gold mining venture at Tennant Creek, his business quickly turned RM into a multi-millionaire. He must have been quite a sight when he staggered down the street to the bank with bags of gold, shotgun on each side. He passed away in 2003, aged 95, as the nation mourned the end of an era.

The quintessential outback hero, Reginald Murray Williams. (Image: National Archives of Australia)

Born two weeks after Ned Kelly was hung, the life of John Flynn couldn’t have been more different from the famed outlaw’s. Trained as a minister, Reverend Flynn’s defining moment was his arrival in outback Beltana, SA, in 1911. Moved by the hardship of life in the bush, in particular the lack of medical help, his moving report to the Presbyterian Church the following year led to his appointment as head of its “bush department”, the Australian Inland Mission.

When Flynn started his work, only two doctors served a total area of 1,8000,000km2, using bush hospitals, hostels and ministers-cum-boundary riders on camel or horseback. Faced with the problematic vast distances in the outback, Flynn’s solution came in the form of a letter from Lieutenant Clifford Peel, a young Victorian medical student with an interest in aviation.

Even though radios and planes were very much in their infancy in 1917, Peel’s letter impressed the reverend and was the first step towards the establishment of the Royal Flying Doctors Service, and today more than 20 bases span the length and breadth of Australia.

The Reverend John Flynn. (Image: Royal Flying Doctors Service)

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The Crocodile Hunter DVD Volume 3 - Steve's Aussie Adventures

• Description

Australia's Wild Frontier Queensland's Cape York is one of the last wild frontiers in Australia. Steve and Terri set out on a journey along some of the most treacherous roads and remote rivers to reach the very northern-most tip of the country. Along the way they encounter a huge array of wildlife including a slately grey snake, an angry scrub python, a rusty monitor goanna, feral pigs and a tree-jumping canopy goanna - the rarest goanna species in the world. Journey to the Red Centre Steve and Terri set off from Australia Zoo, at Beerwah on Australia's east coast, and head towards Australia's red desert interior. While traversing some of the roughest outback terrain, Steve and Terri encounter venomous snakes, desert-dwelling lizards and some of the most endangered mammals in the world. This journey takes them to Australia's most famous geological landmark - Uluru (Ayers Rock). NTSC region free format, plays anywhere in the world.

• Related Products

The Crocodile Hunter DVD Volume 16 - African Adventures

The Crocodile Hunter DVD Volume 2 - Steve's Scariest Moments

The Crocodile Hunter DVD Volume 8 - Crocodile Coast

The Crocodile Hunter DVD Volume 7 - Swimming With The Sharks

The Crocodile Hunter DVD Collection Volume II

Crocodile researcher credits Steve Irwin for significant research legacy

Fifteen years on from Steve Irwin's death, his legacy continues in the longest crocodile research project in the world, uncovering remarkable insights into reptilian lives in far north Queensland.

Key points:

• Steve Irwin Day on November 15 celebrates the Crocodile Hunter's impacts on conservation
• Professor Craig Franklin remembers working with Steve Irwin on decades of crocodile research
• Crocodiles are smart, sophisticated, and capable of travelling immense distances, he says

University of Queensland researcher Craig Franklin was good friends with Steve Irwin and worked with him up until his death, saying goodbye after a month of fieldwork only days before his death on September 4, 2006.

A longstanding partnership between UQ and Australia Zoo meant the zoo team and Mr Irwin would trap and handle crocodiles for the researchers to study.

'An incredible intellect'

Each year, the teams head north to the Wenlock River, at the 330,000 acre Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve in the Cape York Peninsula.

"For the month of August we would go bush, we could camp out, and live and breathe crocodiles and research," Professor Franklin told ABC Radio Brisbane.

"I did get an insight into the man that we all knew from TV. What you saw was what you got in real life, but there was a depth to him that I didn't realise.

"I only realised after a few meetings with him that he was an incredible intellect. His knowledge about animals, wildlife, conservation, was remarkable."

Professor Franklin and his team have been tracking more than 200 crocodiles, in a project that had reaped swathes of data about the reptile's behaviour and movements.

"Steve was a big part of it, but of course we lost him in 2006," Professor Franklin said.

"I remember meeting up with Terri just a few days after his passing, and through the tears she was adamant that we would keep it going.

"We now have the largest, longest crocodile tracking program in the world — 223 animals we are currently tracking."

Sophisticated, smart reptiles

Their research is shared internationally to help other scientists and conservationists learn about crocodile and alligator populations under threat.

"We're able to use technology, really advanced technology, to track crocodiles from underwater, from space, and from land, and to build up a picture as to how they live in the ecosystems of far north Queensland," Professor Franklin said.

"We're starting to realise how complex they are – that they have social networks, and their ability to move vast distances is fairly unrivalled, that they use tides to move up and down river systems.

"They're smart, they're sophisticated. They can dive for periods of 8 hours or more underwater — one of the longest dives ever recorded for an air-breathing animal."

Each of the 223 crocodiles in the program has a name – Marco, Ulysses, Drew, and even Greg Norman after the golfer sponsored one of the animals.

'Barometer' of climate change

But while Australian crocodile populations are currently in good stead, internationally, more than 45 per cent of crocodile species are facing extinction, Professor Franklin said.

A crocodile's body temperature is governed by its environment, and the UQ team now has more than 10 million body temperature recordings over decades.

"As our climate warms and our rivers warm, we're likely to see that reflected in the body temperature of crocodiles," Professor Franklin said.

"That temperature dictates … a large part of what the crocodile is able to do. The warmer it gets, the less time it can spend underwater.

"Our crocodiles are going to become a barometer of climate change."

Monday, November 15, is Steve Irwin Day, celebrating the Crocodile Hunter's legacy and impact on wildlife conservation.

Professor Franklin will be speaking with Terri Irwin at UQ's 10th annual Steve Irwin Memorial Lecture on Saturday at Australia Zoo, reflecting on the Crocodile Hunter's impacts on wildlife conservation and crocodile research.

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Steve Irwin: The incredible story of the wildlife warrior

To some, he was just a reckless attention-seeker. to others, he was the lovable bloke from the outback whose antics with the world's most dangerous creatures made him irresistible. but the shocking death of steve irwin has deprived australia of one of its most colourful personalities. were the voyeuristic demands of television to blame or was it just a random, tragic accident kathy marks reports, article bookmarked.

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Unlike most Australians, who shrink from the tropical sun and shudder at the dangerous creatures that surround them, Steve Irwin was a man in tune with his environment.

Nothing fazed him - not the sharks or killer jellyfish, nor the man-eating crocodiles, nor the dozens of snakes and spiders capable of delivering a fatal bite. For Irwin, Australia's animals were "like a magnet", and he acquired fame, and considerable fortune, by getting up close to them. He appeared to have no fear. And it was, perhaps, that sense of invulnerability that killed him yesterday.

The man who wrestled crocodiles and handled pythons without a scratch was diving in the warm waters of Queensland's Great Barrier Reef when a stingray shot its poisonous barb into his heart. According to a friend and colleague, John Stainton, who was on Irwin's boat, Croc One, Irwin swam too close to it. Triangular-shaped stingrays, which glide through the water on their wide, flat bodies, are usually placid, lashing out with their long tails only when they feel threatened or are trodden on. Irwin was believed to be only the third person killed by a stingray in Australian waters.

Irwin, whose television show Crocodile Hunter made him an international celebrity and a superstar in America, was filming an underwater sequence for a documentary called Ocean's Deadliest at the remote Batt Reef. The crew of his boat called the emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered heart massage as they rushed to Low Isle, a tourist destination popular with divers and snorkellers, to meet a rescue helicopter. But the 44-year-old, who is believed to have suffered an instant cardiac arrest, was pronounced dead by medical staff at about noon local time.

Yesterday one commentator blamed his death on the demands of an increasingly voyeuristic brand of television. But Irwin was only doing what had come naturally since he was given a 12ft scrub python for his birthday at the age of six. He was a showman, irrepressibly ebullient, and he thrived on his death-defying encounters with wildlife. He simply could not understand what the fuss was about when he dangled his one-month-old baby, Bob, above a large, snapping crocodile while feeding it in a pen. It was all about "perceived danger" he said, claiming that: "In front of that crocodile I was in complete control, absolute and complete control."

As a true-life embodiment of Paul Hogan's character in the 1986 hit film Crocodile Dundee, Irwin was one of Australia's most successful exports. His show was first broadcast in Australia in 1992, before being picked up by the American Discovery network and shown worldwide, acquiring an audience of tens of millions. Irwin travelled the world, filming in locations that included the Himalayas, Borneo and South Africa's Kruger National Park. He starred in more than 200 documentaries, including The Croc Files and The Crocodile Hunter Diaries. But his most memorable encounter, he said, took place at Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury in Kent, where he went "one-on-one with the gorillas and was accepted as one of their own".

In 2002 he released a feature-length film, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, set in the Outback, in which he tried to prevent CIA agents from catching a crocodile that had swallowed a tracking device. Irwin once observed: "You're far safer dealing with crocodiles and western diamondback rattlesnakes than the executives and the producers and all those sharks in the big MGM building." With his thick drawl, his trademark cry of "Crikey!" and his perennial get-up of khaki shorts and shirt, long socks and heavy boots, Irwin fulfilled every cliché of the Australian Outback bloke. As such, he was in constant demand for photo opportunities, and to promote Australia abroad. In 2003, the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, invited him to attend a gala barbecue at his official residence in Canberra in honour of George Bush.

Mr Howard appeared almost on the verge of tears yesterday, declaring himself "shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death". He said: "I really do feel Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son." Irwin "took risks, he enjoyed life", Mr Howard said, "he brought immense joy to millions of people, particularly to children. He was a wonderful character. He was a passionate environmentalist. It's such a terrible loss."

While many Australians felt similarly bereft, the effervescent Irwin provoked mixed feelings at home. Like Rolf Harris and Kylie Minogue, he was not taken entirely seriously in Australia, and appeared to be more valued abroad. There were groans in some quarters when he was chosen earlier this year to front a major campaign to promote Australia in the US, called "G'day, LA". Urban Aussies want to shake off the image embodied by the brash, blond Irwin, and to have their modern, multicultural nation portrayed overseas in a rather more sophisticated fashion.

Despite his chirpy, knockabout public persona, Irwin was no fool, and he recognised the ambivalence that he inspired. In an Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary in 2003, he tried to analyse those feelings. Around the world, he said: "They're looking at me as this very popular, wildlife warrior Australian bloke. And yet back here in my own country, some people find me a little bit embarrassing... They kind of cringe, you know, 'cause I'm coming out with, 'Crikey' and, 'Look at this beauty'... You know, is it a cultural cringe? Is it, they actually see a little bit of themselves when they see me, and they find that a little bit embarrassing?"

Irwin was a naturalist as well as an entertainer, a fact that was reflected in the many tributes from leading figures in the field yesterday. David Bellamy, another showman, admitted that he wept when he heard the news. "He was magic, and for the world of conservation and natural history, to lose him is very, very sad," he said. "The thing with Steve was he mixed damn good science with showbusiness and I don't know anyone else who did that." Dr Bellamy told the BBC that Irwin "did take enormous risks but he knew what he was doing... He not only captivated Australia and all the visitors there, but he captivated America because he was audacious."

Mark O'Shea, a British reptile expert who presented the Channel 4 series, O'Shea's Dangerous Reptiles, said that Irwin's death would leave "an immense hole". Although some "university professors" might turn their nose up at the way he portrayed reptiles, he had probably inspired many people to follow a career in conservation. "A lot of people who now want to study biology and work with animals may not have considered it before they watched him on television," Mr O'Shea said.

Animals were in Irwin's blood. When he was eight, his father, Bob, a plumber with a passion for reptiles, moved the family from Melbourne to Queensland's Sunshine Coast, where they opened a small wildlife park. By the time Irwin was nine, he was catching crocodiles, and in his twenties he did work for the Queensland government as a crocodile trapper, removing problem animals from populated areas.

In 1991, when his parents retired, he took over the park - originally called the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, and now known as Australia Zoo - and developed it into a major tourist attraction. A theme park famous around the world, it has more than 1,000 animals on 60 acres of bushland and 360 employees, many of whom were in mourning yesterday.

Irwin told the ABC documentary: "I've got animals so genetically inside me that there's no way I could actually be anything else. I think my path would always have gone back to or delivered me to wildlife." Visitors came in droves to Australia Zoo to watch Irwin hover perilously close to untethered crocodiles, often leaping on to their backs. But in 2004 he went too far, cradling his baby son Bob in one arm while feeding the crocs. There was an uproar and Irwin apologised, but he insisted that Bob had been in no danger, and in later interviews laughed off the incident. He was never charged with any breach of safety regulations.

Irwin said: "Some people ask, 'What if you had fallen over?' Yes, well, I could fall over right now. But what would have to happen for that event to take place would be a meteorite would come out of the sky, hit Australia, we would have an earthquake, 6.6 on the Richter scale, just like Iran, and then I would fall over. Well, guess what? I had a safe working distance with that crocodile when that took place."

Controversy continued to dog him. He was investigated for a possible breach of wildlife laws after being accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales while making a documentary in Antarctica. He denied any wrongdoing, and Australia's Environment Department recommended that no action be taken against him.

Yesterday the British television presenter and survival expert, Ray Mears, said his death proved that "some things in nature should be left alone". He said of Irwin: "He clearly took a lot of risks, and television encouraged him to do that. It's a shame that television audiences need that to be attracted to wildlife. Dangerous animals, you leave them alone because they will defend themselves." Mears, whose programmes have included Extreme Survival, condemned some wildlife programmes as "voyeuristic", saying: "Television has become very gladiatorial, and it's not healthy. The voyeurism we are seeing on television has a cost, and it's that cost Steve Irwin's family are paying today." Last night Irwin's body was in a morgue in Cairns, and his American-born wife, Terri Raines, who had been in Tasmania on a walking tour, was flying back to Queensland with their children: eight-year old Bindi, and Bob, who will be three in December. The couple met when she visited Australia Zoo while on holiday in 1991, and they married six months later.

Cars and trucks passing on the highway honked their horns yesterday, and flowers were left at the entrance to the zoo. A card attached to one bouquet of native flowers read: "Steve, from all God's creatures, thank you. Rest in peace." Paula Kelly, a volunteer at the park, said: "We're all very shocked. I don't know what the zoo will do without him. He's done so much for us, the environment, and it's a big loss." The irony is that after courting danger so many times, Irwin died in a freak accident. A marine neuroscientist, Shaun Collin, of the University of Queensland, said he had had "extraordinarily bad luck". Stingrays flex their serrated barbs, which are up to 10 inches long, when frightened - but the sting, while agonising, is not usually fatal.

Stingrays - of which there are at least 35 species in the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef - deploy the spines to fend off predators such as sharks and killer whales. Mr Collin said he had never heard of an unprovoked attack. "It's not easy to get spined by a stingray, and to be killed by one is very rare," he said, adding that he suspected that the barb had pierced Irwin beneath his ribcage, stabbing him directly in the heart.

John Stainton, who witnessed the incident, said that Irwin swam over the stingray "and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart". An Aboriginal boy is believed to have died in a similar fashion a few years ago, while the only other known recorded death was in waters near Melbourne in 1945. Australian experts said there had only been about 30 such deaths worldwide.

None of that will bring any comfort to Irwin's family, nor to his professional colleagues, nor to the millions of viewers who believed they knew him.

Whatever one thought of Irwin, his passion for life could not be denied, nor the 100 per cent enthusiasm that he brought to everything he did. "I get called an adrenaline junkie every other minute, and I'm just fine with that," he once remarked. On another occasion, he claimed never to have experienced "fear of losing my life".

Irwin lived and breathed animals, and he helped to demystify dangerous reptiles. He was "a modern-day Noah", Mark Townend, chief executive of the Queensland branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said last night. Mr Stainton said that Irwin "died doing what he loved best, and he left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind."

Stingrays: the facts

Stingrays have a tapering tail that is armed with one or more spines. They are not usually aggressive. They rummage on the sea bottom and only attack if they have been stepped on or threatened. They feed on molluscs, small fish and worms.

Although stingrays are venomous, humans are more likely to be hurt by the whipping action of their slender tails (which may result in severe penetrating injuries and/or infection) than by the poison itself. Envenomation may result in local pain and swelling that may spread to involve entire limbs, and wounds are likely to appear bluish-white in colour. Other symptoms are rare but may include nausea and vomiting, muscle cramps, diarrhoea, salivation, sweating, an irregular heartbeat and convulsions.

The killer instinct: when animals attack

* JOHN ASPINALL

Aspinall was a celebrated zoo-owner and animal breeding enthusiast. Aspinall held the view that humans and wild animals should interact closely together, and he encouraged his zookeepers to move freely among the animals. Five of his employees were killed, three by tigers and two by elephants. Popular pressure prevented Canterbury council from closing down his zoos. Aspinall himself died of cancer in 2000 at the age of 74.

* SIMON COMBES

A buffalo attacked and killed the British painter Simon Combes in 2004, when he was walking in Kenya's Great Rift Valley. Combes was well known for his intimacy with the wild animals who were the subject of his artworks. He had previously come close to death at the hands of rhinos, tigers and elephants, but in 1996 he proclaimed that he was more afraid of humans than of dangerous animals.

Roy Horn, of the circus act Siegfried and Roy, was severely injured by a white tiger onstage during a show at The Mirage in Las Vegas on 3 October 2003. The tiger bit him in the neck, causing massive loss of blood and partial paralysis. The show at The Mirage had to close down, costing the resort $45m in lost business. Horn has now begun to walk again.

* YVOY SUAREZ JIMENEZ

Suarez Jimenez, a 28-year-old Florida student, was killed by an alligator in May this year. Jimenez went for an evening jog, and her dismembered body was discovered the following morning. She was reportedly sitting by a canal when she was dragged into the water by an alligator perhaps 10ft long.

* KIRSTY ROSS

Kirsty Ross was killed in Cornwall in 2001 by her mother's dog. Ross was having an epileptic fit when the dog bit her in the neck, possibly in an attempt to help her. Her 22-month-old baby was found in the same room, unhurt.

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Steve Irwin: Adventurer, Environmentalist, Devoted Husband and Father

Terri Irwin recounts the adventures she shared with the love of her life.

Oct. 31, 2007 — -- "Steve and Me" is a window into the world of a man loved by millions, written by the woman who knew and loved him best.

Read an excerpt of "Steve and Me" below.

The name of the zoo was the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park. As I crossed the parking area, I prepared myself for disappointment. I am going to see a collection of snakes, lizards, and miserable creatures in jars, feel terribly sorry for them, and leave.

It was October, 1991. I was Terri Raines, a 27-year-old Oregon girl in Australia on an unlikely quest to find homes for rescued American cougars. A reptile park wasn't going to be interested in a big cat. I headed through the pleasant spring heat toward the park thinking pessimistic thoughts. This is going to be a big waste of time. But the prospect of seeing new species of wildlife drew me in.

I walked through the modest entrance, only to be shocked at what I found on the other side: the most beautiful, immaculately kept gardens I had ever encountered. Peacocks strutted around, kangaroos and wallabies roamed freely, and palm trees lined all the walkways. It was like a little piece of Eden.

After I paid my admission fee, I saw that the reptile enclosures were kept perfectly clean -- the snakes glistened. I kept rescued animals myself at home. I knew zoos, and I knew the variety of nightmare they can fall into. But I saw not a sign of external parasites on these animals, no old food rotting in the cages, no feces or shedded skin left unattended.

So I enjoyed myself. I toured around, learned about the snakes and fed the kangaroos. It was a brilliant sunlit day.

"There will be a show at the crocodile enclosures in five minutes," a voice announced on the PA system. "Five minutes."

That sounded good to me.

I noticed the crocodiles before I noticed the man. There was a whole line of crocodilians: alligators, fresh-water crocodiles and one big salty. Amazing, modern-day dinosaurs. I didn't know much about them, but I knew that they had existed unchanged for millions of years. They were a message from our past, from the dawn of time, among the most ancient creatures on the planet.

Then I saw the man. A tall, solid twenty-something (he appeared younger than he was, and had actually turned twenty-nine that February), dressed in a khaki shirt and shorts, barefoot, with blond flyaway hair underneath a big Akubra hat and a black-banded wristwatch on his left wrist. Even though he was big and muscular, there was something kind and approachable about him, too.

I stood among the fifteen or twenty other park visitors and listened to him talk.

"They can live as long or even longer than us," he said, walking casually past the big saltwater croc's pond.

"They can hold their breath underwater for hours."

He approached the water's edge with a piece of meat. The crocodile lunged out of the water and snapped the meat from his hand. "This male croc is territorial," he explained, "and females become really aggressive when they lay eggs in a nest." He knelt beside the croc that had just tried to nail him. "Crocodiles are such good mothers."

Every inch of this man, every movement and word exuded his passion for the crocodilians he passed among. I couldn't help but notice that he never tried to big note himself. He was there to make sure his audience admired the crocs, not himself.

I recognized his passion, because I felt some of it myself. I spoke the same way about cougars as this Australian zookeeper spoke about crocs. When I heard there would be a special guided tour of the crocodile environmental park, I was first in line for a ticket. I had to hear more. This man was on fire with enthusiasm, and I felt I really connected with him, like I was meeting a kindred spirit.

Some of the topics Steve talked about that day were wonderful and new. I learned about the romantic life of crocodiles. There are courting rituals between male and female, and the male crocodiles are very gentle as they nudge up and down alongside the female, waiting until she is receptive. I never imagined that these dinosaur-looking creatures could be loving, but he explained that they were quite passionate lovers, and seemed to develop real affection for each other.

Affection for each other, sure, but not for Steve. I watched the still, dark, murky water erupt with an enormous ton of salt-water crocodile. The croc nearly snapped the buttons off Steve's shirt as he neatly deposited a piece of meat into its mouth. The reverberation of the jaws coming back together sounded like a rifle report.

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From where I stood on the other side of the fence, I could barely breathe. I didn't know how he did it.Other topics were more familiar. "Sometimes just seeing a croc in the wild can scare the daylights out of people," he said, passing among the rows of sub-adult crocodiles. "But if you know to follow some simple rules, these little tackers pose no threat at all to human life."

It was a situation that I'd encountered many times in the United States with predatory animals. People would frequent a boat ramp, for example. They'd come in with their catch and fillet it right at the dock, tossing the fish bones and scraps into the water. In the States, this might attract black bears, posing a potential problem for tourists. In Australia, the same practice brought the crocs into contact with humans.

"If we get a report about a particularly naughty little crocodile bothering people," Steve explained, "I go out with my dog, Sui, in a dinghy. We'll capture the croc so it won't get shot."

Then he described what he meant by "capture." As he told the story I was totally captivated, and so were the other zoo visitors. Maybe it was because Steve was detailing the most astonishing set of actions any of us had ever heard about, accomplished by a man who lived to tell the tale.

"If the croc is young, six feet long, or smaller," he said, "I'll catch it by hand."

By hand. I'd had to capture all kinds of wildlife in Oregon, but never anything as dangerous as a six-foot long saltwater crocodile … in the water … in the dark … by hand.

"We go out at night with a million candle power spotlight, shining bright across the water," he said. "That way, I can pick up the eye-shine of the crocodile. Their eyes glow bright red, right at the surface of the water. The croc thinks he's camouflaged by the darkness. He doesn't understand that my spotlight is revealing his location."

Idling the dinghy, bringing it quietly in closer and closer to the croc, Steve would finally make his move. He'd creep to the front of the boat and hold the spotlight until the last moment.

Then he would leap into the water.

Grabbing the crocodile around the scruff of the neck, he would secure its tail between his legs, and wrap his body around the thrashing creature. Crocodiles are amazingly strong in the water. Even a six-foot-long sub-adult would easily take Steve to the bottom of the river, rolling and fighting, trying to dislodge him by scraping against the rocks and snags at the bottom of the river.

But Steve would hang on. He knew he could push off the bottom, reach the surface for air, flip the crocodile into his dinghy, and pin the snapping animal down.

"Piece of cake," he said.

That was the most incredible story I had ever heard. And Steve was the most incredible man I had ever seen -- My heart was pounding as I drove up the coast again a few days later. There was the familiar little sign, the modest entrance. And here he was again, as large as life -- six feet tall, broad shoulders, a big grin, and a warm and welcome handshake. Our first real touch.

"Well, I'm back," I said lamely.

"Good on you, mate," Steve said. I thought to myself, I've got what on me?

Right away, I was extremely self-conscious about a hurdle I felt that we had to get over. I wasn't entirely sure about Steve's marital status. I looked for a ring, but he didn't wear one. That doesn't mean anything, I told myself. He probably can't wear one because of his work. I think he figured out what I was hedging at as I started asking him questions about his friends and family.

He lived right there at the Zoo, he told me, with his parents and his sister Mandy. His sister Joy was married and had moved away.

I was trying to figure out how to say, "So, do you have a girlfriend?" when suddenly he volunteered the information.

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Steve Irwin Gala Dinner 2023: Bindi holds dad close to her heart with special gesture

By Madhurima Haque | 5 months ago

The Irwin family has hosted its annual Steve Irwin Gala Dinner for 2023, inviting guests to celebrate the extraordinary life of the crocodile hunter himself while raising money for Wildlife Warriors, the charity created in his honour.

Bindi and Robert Irwin set out to offer a glimpse into the celeb-packed affair, taking place last night in the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, starting with a lot of family videos and selfies.

Bindi posted a cute video trying to co-ordinate her family to introduce the gala. Terri , Robert, Rorie Buckey (Robert's girlfriend) and Chandler Powell (Bindi's husband) tried to introduce the gala, with Bindi adding that they are "so happy raising funds and awareness for Wildlife warriors," before directing her family to crouch down behind her again.

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While the mayhem ensued behind her, many fans couldn't help but notice the necklace Bindi was sporting, holding the memory of her father close to her heart with a pendant featuring a picture of Steve.

The mum-of-one also shared photos of her daughter Grace on stage at the event, not wanting to miss out on the fun.

Robert on the other hand shared videos of the entire event, starting with the red carpet, where he and his family took photos with all sorts of creatures - from cockatoos, to pugs and even snakes.

READ MORE: Leonardo Di Caprio's rag to riches tale

A video shows him and Rorie with a snake draped around their shoulders trying to go into Robert's suit jacket. Rorie fittingly wore an ivory gown that looked as though it was made of snake scales.

The red carpet was also graced with a number of celebrities, from Down Under and beyond. Most notably making appearances were comedian Rove McManus and his wife, Tasma Walton, and husband-and-wife singing duo Lee and Robby Kernaghan performing with Band of Blue. Narelda Jacobs was the MC for the event and Harcourts CEO Mitch Peereboom ran the charity auction.

READ MORE: How a young Drew Barrymore met the late Princess Diana

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Though the convention centre was packed to the brim with attendees, Robert and Rorie were able to sneak away for a moment to take some photos with Rorie's sister Scarlett, the pair in an affectionate embrace.

Rorie wrote in the caption that she was "so proud of" Robert, and he returned the sentiment in the comments. Bindi wrote in the comments, "Rorie!! You are stunning. So beautiful inside and out 💛 It was wonderful to celebrate such a special night together."

• Bindi Irwin
• Robert Irwin
• Terri Irwin
• Steve Irwin
• Chandler Powell

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