Steve Irwin (crocodile hunter) dies..........

[sha_lyn]

I think the main reason that Steve's shows and now Bindi's go to the US first is because there is bigger money over there and a bigger viewing audience

The reason the shows air in the US first is because the shows are produced by US stations. They "own" the shows and will not sell them into syndication until they have aired here.

 

[Pooh67_68]

Auriel, I agree they should at least air the shows at the same time both there and here.

Animals roaming freely well no visiting the zoo for me. I don't do well with animals in enclosed habitats.

The safari ride in Disney is nice, but I am always worried about the animals, and I have seen the show about AK and they say the animals can't get near the trucks.

 

[lucas]

I would love to see the Koalas and Kangaroos up close!

But, "a Burmese Phython around your neck!?!"

Nutsy, Any word on how Steve's dad has been doing lately?

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I will never forget when Steve died. We were on our Disney cruise in the Eastern Caribbean, just a few days from our stingray swim. It still doesn't seem real to me. I love how much he did for the animals and what a great father he was. I can't believe how much Bob has grown!! Bindi takes after Steve so much that it hurts to watch her sometimes. I missed My Daddy, the Croc Hunter but I'm hoping they retelevise it again soon.

Thank you so much for taking time to keep us updated Nutsy. Keep posting them and I'll keep reading them.

 

[Nutsy]

I would love to see the Koalas and Kangaroos up close!

But, "a Burmese Phython around your neck!?!"

Nutsy, Any word on how Steve's dad has been doing lately?

No unfortunately. Not heard anything about him for ages. We didn't see him on Friday either, or Wes.

We were looking for Bob snr and Wes, but no sign of them anywhere. Everytime we saw a Zoo uniform we looked to see if it was Wes or anyone else we know, but it wasn't.


The burmese python is quite large too. lol I asked my son if he would like to have his pic taken (he being the one who likes snakes) and he was very adamant that no he would not. We were watching a couple of Japanese girls and one of them was really quite freaked out about have the snake around her neck, especially as she had the head near her face. lol

 

[lucas]

Nutsy, I've been meaning to ask but don't want to sound silly..... On Animal Planet's Croc Diaries they always show the zoo crew going out into residential areas, and rescuing koalas up trees (that was the one they showed today) or snakes from the yards of houses or under trucks, etc. I guess these are homes located close to the zoo? Do you have ever have wildlife like that coming into your neighborhood or close to your home?

 

[Nutsy]

Nutsy, I've been meaning to ask but don't want to sound silly..... On Animal Planet's Croc Diaries they always show the zoo crew going out into residential areas, and rescuing koalas up trees (that was the one they showed today) or snakes from the yards of houses or under trucks, etc. I guess these are homes located close to the zoo? Do you have ever have wildlife like that coming into your neighborhood or close to your home?

Not silly at all. However, where I live is a bit too surburbia for wildlife. But if you were to travel about 15 mins north where there is bush you will certainly see Koalas. I know someone who used to live by a bit of bush and they had a Koala on their fence one night. A little further north again and you can be guaranteed of seeing Roos and Koalas on a regular basis in your backyard. But around here there really isn't much in the way of bush, it's all being built out.

You also mentioned snakes and this morning whilst out shopping we came across a wildlife display at a local shopping centre. There were 2 snakes you could pat. A carpet python and a rainbow serpent, a fresh water croc and a blue tongue lizard.

I could not for the life of me pat the snakes. My son threated to grab my hand and force me to, but I freaked out and ran away. I just cannot bring myself to touch snakes. I did however, pat the croc, he was ok and I have patted a blue tongue lizard before, but didn't exactly enjoy it. I'd much rather stick to the Kangaroos and Koalas.

 

[Nutsy]

Nutsy, I've been meaning to ask but don't want to sound silly..... On Animal Planet's Croc Diaries they always show the zoo crew going out into residential areas, and rescuing koalas up trees (that was the one they showed today) or snakes from the yards of houses or under trucks, etc. I guess these are homes located close to the zoo? Do you have ever have wildlife like that coming into your neighborhood or close to your home?

Umm there are no homes located close to the Zoo. But there are homes on Steve Irwin Way (Glasshouse Mountains Drive) and surrounds. The only homes within cooee of the Zoo is Bob seniors place and Steve and Terri's. Actually for the very first time we saw Steve and Terri's place last week. Always been able to see Bob seniors place, but now that the Zoo has been extended, the new part is actually quite close to where they live.

 

[lucas]

Umm there are no homes located close to the Zoo. But there are homes on Steve Irwin Way (Glasshouse Mountains Drive) and surrounds. The only homes within cooee of the Zoo is Bob seniors place and Steve and Terri's. Actually for the very first time we saw Steve and Terri's place last week. Always been able to see Bob seniors place, but now that the Zoo has been extended, the new part is actually quite close to where they live.

Wow! You got to see their houses - that is really exciting! Once on Croc Diaries they showed Steve's house (don't know if it is the same house now as the one they showed). Anyhoo, Wes pulled a prank on Steve and put a huge snake in Steve's bed! That house was a lovely modest home. Didn't realize Bob Sr. had a home at the zoo, too - but it makes sense.

Have you ever seen Brian at the zoo? I really like him, he seems like such a nice person. I'll never know how he was able to drive Steve's truck away at the memorial.

 

[Nutsy]

Wildlife warrior ... While most little girls would be afraid, Bindi Irwin has revealed she sometimes sleeps with her pet snakes, Blackie and Corny. / The Daily Telegraph

AT an age when many girls are still playing with their Barbie dolls, Bindi Irwin has moved on to something a bit more challenging.
"I have Blackie my black-headed python. I also have Corny the corn snake. He sleeps with me at night," the 8-year-old-daughter of the late crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin, says proudly as she rattles off the names of the menagerie she keeps back home in Queensland, Australia.
It's a group she hopes to introduce to the rest of the world through her new television show, "Bindi the Jungle Girl," airing Saturdays on the Discovery Kids Channel.
"I also have Jaffa my koala and Ocker, my favorite cockatoo. And I have other birds that stay with me. And Candy, my pet rat, sometimes stays with me," the blonde-haired, pigtailed bundle of energy continues until her enthusiasm gets the better of her and her words begin to run together, finally tripping over one another in a heap.
"Sorry," she offers with a giggle as she comes up for air.
Then, a moment later, she's on a roll again, passionately recounting the horror stories her father would come home with about the way he saw exotic animals mistreated in shows around the world. He witnessed cobras in India, he told her, that had their teeth yanked out before they were put in baskets for snake charmers with flutes to coax them out of. He saw monkeys that had their young taken away as an incentive to perform.
"They take their babies away until the monkey does the trick, and then they give the baby back," he told her.
"It's terrible what people are doing," she says, her voice rising. "And they're just doing it for a living because they don't know any better. They've just grown up like that. I think we really need to teach all people, big or little, they should all know the message of conservation."
Her effort to teach them is "Bindi The Jungle Girl," which takes viewers around the world to see animals in their natural habitat while Bindi discusses things like the status of those in danger of extinction.
"There are only a few thousand left in the wild and they could all be gone by the time I'm old enough to drive," she says of tigers and cheetahs.
As her father did, she also frequently makes pitches not to use products that result in the needless deaths of animals.
Each show also returns home to Bindi's two-story tree house in Queensland, Australia, where the little girl with the soft Aussie accent interacts naturally with her exotic animals and where, Bindi says, she is always happiest.
"I love it in my tree house. It's the best place to be, pretty much," she says by phone. "I just go there to sleep over sometimes. My brother comes to visit me for a little sleepover as well. He has his own little snake, Basil. Basil is actually a girl. I know, that's a strange name for a girl," she says, letting loose with another giggle.
She also keeps a supply of videos of her father there.
"I'm ever so lucky because I have so much footage of my dad in the tree house with me," she says. Then she adds softly, "Which is very nice to have because some people only have like one or two pictures of their father or the one who died."
She was barely 8 when her father was killed by a stingray while filming an underwater documentary at Australia's Great Barrier Reef last September.
The two already had begun working together on what would become "Bindi The Jungle Girl," and Irwin is featured prominently in early episodes doing things like climbing trees to visit the nests of endangered orangutans. In one comical moment, a nest's startled resident briefly shakes a fist in Irwin's face before deciding he's all right.
Almost from the day Bindi was born, says her mother, Terri Irwin, she has embraced exotic animals with the same passion her father had.
"Steve was so excited," she recalls. "He kept saying, 'I'm really looking forward to the day when Bindi takes over for me and I can just kick back."'
Still, in many ways, she adds, her daughter is just a typical kid, one who keeps busy with school and pesters her family from time to time for a pony to go with Peru the iguana and the other exotic animals.
As for taking up her famous father's legacy at such a tender age, Bindi doesn't see it as a big deal. She began accompanying him on film shoots when she was just 6 days old and learned early on, she says, what her life's work would be.
"I've always wanted to teach people about animal conservation,"
she said. "I want to follow in my father's footsteps. I loved him so very, very much."

 

[Nutsy]

In this photo released by Discovery Kids, Bindi Erwin, the 8-year-old daughter of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, poses with three elephants on the set of her new show "Bindi: The Jungle Girl," at Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Australia. (AP Photo/Discovery Kids)

These three lovely ladies, are the Asian Elephants "Steve's girls". Not too sure which one it was that I fed, but I can say that was very friendly and very much a lady.

 

[Nutsy]

Crocodile Hunter Commemorative Collection
Features 2 Extra Discs and 3 Hours of Content Never-Before-Available on DVD!

To commemorate Australia's very own wildlife warrior, EzyDVD together with Australia Zoo and Magna Pacific have created a genuine Crocodile Hunter Commemorative Collection. This impressive compilation is fully endorsed by Australia Zoo and features 8 DVDs, including 2 discs and over 3 hours of content never-before-available to own!

In honour of Steve's worthy cause, part proceeds will be contributed to the Australia Zoo Foundation.

8 Disc Collection Only Available at EzyDVD and Australia Zoo!




Attention International Customers
This title will incur a $60.00 shipping charge in addition to the international price.
This item is formatted for playback on both PAL and NTSC enabled systems and is fully compatible for playback in all regions of the world.

Includes delivery via Star Track Express (Australia Only)


Episodes:

Steve's Story
"Steve's Story" is an amazing adventure thathighlights some of the most spectacular eventsthat have helped shape Steve's life into "The Crocodile Hunter”. Photographs from the Irwin family album and never seen before footage of Steve's home movies show a side of Steve Irwin few people ever see.

Big Croc Diaries
Steve and Terri introduce their favourite crocodiles at Australia Zoo in an in-depth and action packed episode that has more close calls and snapping jaws than any other. Some unique high-speed film sequences show thetremendous power and speed of each crocodile and incredible footage highlights some of Steve’s biggest crocodiles enjoying huge meals of whole pigs.

Wildest Home Videos
This one-hour special takes a look at some of the hairiest and scariest moments from The Crocodile Hunter’s private video library and includes classic scenes from the archives of program outtakes. Steve is bitten on the face by an angry python, bitten on the foot by a vengeful crocodile, has -close calls with lunging crocodiles along with many other amazing adventures.

Steve and the Dragon
In the remote volcanic island region of the Indonesian archipelago, Steve goes in search of the world’s largest and most dangerous land lizard, the Komodo Dragon. These fearsome creatures are capable of inflicting mortal wounds with just one bite. This adventure is one of the few times we see people so closely interacting with these ancient surviving dinosaurs.

Australia s Wild Frontier
Queensland’s Cape York is one of the last wild frontiers in Australia and 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 west 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. The journey takes them to Australia's most famous geological landmark - Ayers Rock.

Africa's Deadliest Snakes
Steve embarks on a quest to find the most infamous of all Africa's venomous snakes - the Black Mamba. In his search Steve encounters the most aggressive snake he has ever experience - the Egyptian Cobra, the dangerous Boomslang and the deadly Green Mamba. When he finally meets his nemesis, the Black mamba, the encounter is Steve's most memorable and possibly most dangerous.

Sidwinders of Arizona
The deserts of Arizona are home to the notorious 'Sidewinder' Rattlesnake and Steve and Terri set out on an adventure to find their first sidewinders in the rugged landscape of the Marry M. Goldwater Military Range. As a special occasion to introduce Steve to a real 'Sidewinder' missile, the US Airforce base at Luke invite Steve to take the controls of a F16. In a spin reaching G Force nine, Steve loses consciousness in the air.

Jungle In The Clouds
Steve treks from the coastal mangroves of New Guinea, through to the steamy jungles of the lowland plains and the misty, cloud shrouded valleys of the highland mountains tot he pinnacle of his trek to one of the few equatorial glaciers in the world. Along the journey he encounters cus cus, crocodiles, snakes, bats, tree kangaroos, triocks, turtles and butterflies.

Faces In The Forest
Steve travels to the remote village of Bukit Luwang to study a community of rehabilitated Orangutans. As part of the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre's program, Steve is privileged to take three juvenile Orangutans into the forest for survival lessons. He has an amazing encounter with a female Orangutan and her baby and they almost adopt him as part of their family.

Crocodiles Of The Revolution
East Timor in the Indonesian archipelago was a war zone and the troops of the Australian Army discovered two crocodiles that were living in appalling conditions. Steve and his team from Australia Zoo were called to the rescue - they built two new state of the art enclosures and Steve undertook the most death defying crocodile rescue he has ever attempted.

Graham's Revenge
Graham is one of Australia's Zoo most formidable crocodiles. Everyone was relieved when the capture and release of Graham and his feisty girlfriend Bindi into their new enclosure went off without a hitch. Several weeks after the move, however, Steve and his best friend Wes were forced to enter Graham's enclosure - disaster struck and Wes was attacked. Steve came to the rescue by jumping on the croc's back. Wes escaped with his life but was badly mauled. Graham had his revenge.
Actors:Steve Irwin Country:AustraliaAudioolby Digital 2.0 StereoAspect Ratio:1.33:1 FullscreenTransfer Formatan & Scan Category:Box Sets TV Series Documentary Region:1,2,3,4,5,6FormatVD Year:2007Distributor:EzyDVD Rating:GLanguages:English

http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/794229


If the link doesn't work.. go to www.ezydvd.com.au and go to seach and type in Croc Hunter Commemorative Collection

 

[lucas]

What a fantastic collection. And, is the cover really made to look like his shirt? Neat!

Also, I can't believe that I've never seen Steve's movie! I've got to check that out soon.

 

[Nutsy]

What a fantastic collection. And, is the cover really made to look like his shirt? Neat!

Also, I can't believe that I've never seen Steve's movie! I've got to check that out soon.

That's a question I've been asking myself. It sure looks like it hey?

 

[Nutsy]

Wildlife reserve to honour Steve Irwin


Sunday Jul 22 15:28 AEST

Terri Irwin has worked tirelessly to turn her late husband's dream of a wildlife reserve in Far North Queensland into reality, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says.

Mr Turnbull visited the Irwin family's Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast on Sunday to announce a $6 million purchase of 135,000 hectares of land to honour the conservation legacy of the late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin.

The Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve, north-east of Weipa on Cape York Peninsula, will be run by the Irwin family who will manage the environmentally-sensitive land and care for endangered species.
Mr Turnbull said the reserve, bordered by the Wenlock River, contained the endangered northern quoll and speartooth shark as well as important gallery dry vine forests.

"Steve Irwin had a long-held dream for this region to become a wildlife sanctuary and Terri and the family has worked tirelessly to turn this dream into reality," he said.

Terri Irwin, accompanied by children Bindi and Robert, and Steve's father Bob Irwin, said the family would be proud to manage the region.

"Steve was in awe of the prolific wildlife of the Wenlock and Ducie rivers bordering the reserve and he would have been proud to see the property protected as a wildlife reserve," she said.

She said controlling feral animals and protecting wetlands and forest would be an integral part of their work.

A scientific research centre in collaboration with the University of Queensland and other research organisations would also be established on the land, she said.

The project was funded under the National Reserve System Program which has helped protect more than 88 million hectares of Australia's most fragile landscapes.

 

[Nutsy]

Steve tribute statue gets the green light

Maroochy Mayor Joe Natoli has gained the blessing of the Irwin family to build a statue of his own in Mooloolaba - a life-size replica of Steven Irwin.

Mr Natoli approached the Irwin family with his idea of honouring Steve with a statue shortly after his tragic death by a stingray barb in September last year.

This week he secured their support with acclaimed South Australian sculptor Sylvio Apponyi commissioned to do the work.
"Sylvio spent three hours on Wednesday talking with Wes (Mannion) and Terri (Irwin) and they had fruitful discussions," he said.
Terri Irwin said yesterday she was "extremely honoured to have Steve acknowledged in this way".

"Steve was a fair-dinkum Australian who was proud to call the Sunshine Coast home. Bindi, Robert and I would like to thank Joe Natoli and everyone in this area for such an amazing tribute," she said.


Australia Zoo marketing manager Natalie Hodgskin believes the statue will be a "fitting tribute to a man who was so passionate about the Sunshine Coast".

"Steve loved to promote the Sunshine Coast on the world stage and his contribution has helped make the Sunshine Coast what it is today," she said.

Mr Natoli said he wanted to honour Steve not just because of his incredible work for wildlife, but because he had been a former Maroochy Council employee.

"Many people don’t know that Steve worked for council for four years. From January 29, 1980, to 1984 he worked as an apprentice diesel fitter at our Nambour Depot."
The depot still has some Steve Irwin graffiti on it that’s never been erased and now never will be.

"The depot still has where he scaled the shed on the day he quit and took a can of grease and painted 'Yahoo' on it. It’s still there 23 years later," Mr Natoli.

"No one had the guts to scale it and clear it off. I sent a photo of it to Bob (Irwin) last year and he thought it was quite amusing."
Mr Natoli said he thought Mooloolaba was the appropriate setting for the statue.

"Initially we thought Nambour as that’s where he worked, but then we decided Mooloolaba would be more appropriate as that is where Australia Zoo has businesses and they have a home across the way at Minyama."
Mr Natoli said he had the full support of Mooloolaba Business and Tourism and divisional councillor Tom Hulett for his statue.

He he would leave the details of the final product up to Mr Apponyi and the Irwin family - but didn’t expect the final product to be bronze.

"It will be a life-size image of Steve, but how it ends up will be up to the Irwins and Salvio.
Mr Natoli said he would fund the sculpture out of his divisional allocation. He had "no idea" how much it would cost. "The final price is not an issue for me – I want it to be significant piece to recognise his tremendous contribution," Mr Natoli said.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Nutsy thanks for keeping us updated with the goings on.

 

[Nutsy]

Nutsy thanks for keeping us updated with the goings on.

Not a problem. Just wish you could see all what we see. I've looked for video links of what's been on tv here recently, but there aren't any

 

[Nutsy]

Irwin still larger than life

BIG boys don't cry and Wes Mannion's jaw clenches to fight back the lump in his throat as he talks about his best mate, Steve Irwin.

GETTING harder ... Wes Mannion says he feels the loss of his best mate, Steve Irwin, even more keenly now than when he died a year ago.


It's been almost a year since the seemingly indestructible Crocodile Hunter died in that encounter with a stingray, but emotions are still raw. Not only has Mannion had to step in to fill the boots of one of the most popular Aussie icons and keep Irwin's Australia Zoo dream alive, he has had to do it while still grieving for the best friend he also regarded as a brother.

"There's not a day I haven't thought about Steve simply because he's been so much a part of my life," Mannion, the director of Australia Zoo, told The Courier-Mail in an exclusive interview ahead of the first anniversary of Irwin's death on September 4.

"The weirdest thing is that, as time goes by, I miss him more and more. The first six months you miss him. Then a few more months go past and that's when the reality sets in and you really start to miss him and that doesn't go away. It just gets heavier and heavier."

Mannion, 37, who first chummed up with the eight years older Irwin at the tender age of 14 after his childhood passion for snakes led him to the zoo, says Irwin's death last year was the hardest thing he had ever had to go through.

Mannion said the freaky nature of Irwin's death – stabbed through the heart with a stingray barb – had made dealing with it a little easier in one sense.

"It was fate. Thousands of people swim with stingrays every day of the week."

Mannion said he had never seen, nor wanted to see, the controversial film footage of his friend's last moments and was relieved it had been destroyed. He said he would also guard the secret of whether Irwin was buried or cremated and where his remains lay.

"Steve, as much as he was an open book to everyone, he was a private man as well," he said, but added that talk of a commemorative statue of Irwin somewhere on the Sunshine Coast was "a cool idea".

Mannion said that even in his own grief his first thoughts were for Steve's wife, Terri, and their two young children, Bindi and Robert.

"My main concern was the kids and Terri because no one was as close to Steve as those three.

"We (the family) all just stuck together – nothing broke apart. At the end of the day we had to get through that shock, that realisation.

"I still do (sometimes) expect him to come walking through that door, because everything I do in my life revolves around Steve.

"Like when I go surfing. I've only been surfing once since the accident. Every morning, Steve and I, we used to go surfing."

Mannion said while there had been no days when he thought he could not continue on without his friend,

he drew some comfort from the fact that Irwin had always lived in the moment.

"Steve lived probably the equivalent of three lives," Mannion said. "I'm not saying he knew when he was going (to die). But he certainly knew he was here for a short time and whether that time was 50 or 60 or 70 years, for Steve it was too short so he was just going flat out.

"He was a machine and that's why we've all gone for (his dream) and not fallen over and crawled up in a ball and gone to sleep.

"He tried to jam as much as he could in a short amount of time. The only time that didn't happen was when he had his kids. He was an incredible father, an absolutely awesome dad and he put so much time into the kids. That's the only time when I can honestly say he ever slowed down.

"Like, if he was in a meeting and Bindi would come up and go 'daddy, daddy' he wouldn't go 'uh-uh, this is a really important meeting, off you go'. He would grab her and play with her and love her."

Mannion said that, next to his family and wildlife conservation, Irwin had loved his zoo with a passion and saw it as both his sanctuary and major goal in life.

It's a passion matched by Mannion who has vowed to do anything he can to keep it going and expanding.

"Sometimes I think: 'I hope people don't think I'm trying to be Steve here', that people understand where I fit in the picture and that I'm not and never will be (Steve) but that he was my brother.

"The one thing I want to do more than anything in life is to keep his dream alive.

"I've been in a lot of documentaries with Steve over the years but it's not my passion. I can do it, but I ain't Steve and I'm never going to be.

"Bindi will be Bindi. She's not going to be Steve. She will be what she wants to be and do what she wants to do. And the great thing about (young) Bob is that he's ended up with Steve's personality and he'll be like 'I'll just go and do what I want to do'.

"Terri is such a fantastic mum. She's not going to pressure them to do anything or say 'you can't do it' because people will say I'm pushing you into it.

"Anyone who's spent time with Bindi knows she does what she wants to do. She knows how to get her own way and she's a typical nine-year-old.

"There's a couple of things she has to do and one is school and the other is brushing her teeth at night – other than that she understands she doesn't have to (do anything).

"She has fun. Bindi's a wonderful little kid and she'll be what she wants to be. At the end of the day you can't pressure your kids to do anything because if you do they'll buck it."

Mannion said Australians tended to handle death really badly.

"It's like 'let's not talk about it, let's sweep it under the carpet, let's get rid of the photos, don't mention his name', instead of embracing that person," he said.

Which is why Mannion is glad that all the Steve Irwin signage still abounds at the zoo as well as everywhere else to continue promoting the Irwin brand and his conservation message.

"We haven't had one complaint at all (about the signs). Everyone loves it."

Mannion said that, while he was not surprised by the outpouring of love and grief in the wake of Irwin's death, he was pleasantly surprised that so much of it came from Australians who had tended to knock the Crocodile Hunter's exuberant style in the past.

"That would have meant a lot to him (Irwin). Looking down, it really would have meant a lot to him. He'd have gone 'wow, I did make a difference' which was all he wanted to do."

Mannion, who still bears the scars from being attacked from behind by a crocodile while helping Irwin clear flood debris at night from one of the zoo's enclosures six years ago, said his friend had helped save his life then and had always shown unflinching loyalty and courage.

"If I was to have one person near me in any situation, he would be the one. Once he believed something was right he would back you 'til the cows came home.

"When you're with people all the time you get to see their true colours and no one is perfect, but his loyalty was uncompromising.

"It was nice to know you had someone like that in your life."

Mannion is now pushing on with Australia Zoo's massive development plans, with an estimated $200 million-plus set to be spent in the next 10 years as the zoo expands to more than 300ha from its original 2ha humble beginnings when it was started by Irwin's parents, Bob and Lynn Irwin.

Staff numbers are expected to rocket from 550 to up to 2000.

But Mannion said one of the things he had learned from Irwin was to take the time out to put family first and enjoy the journey as well as the destination.

With his wife, Jodie, at his side as the zoo's assistant director and their young son Riley, 2, Mannion said he now realised – as Irwin did – that parents should take a leaf out of their children's books.

"Kids have an attitude to get on with things and have fun," he said.

"Steve was a jokester as well, always into having fun. He'd get bored pretty quick.

"With Steve there was always something exciting happening and if there wasn't he'd say: 'let's make it exciting'.

"There will be no one like Steve ever again. He was one of a kind."

NO one as close to Steve as his family ... Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin.

MISSED by millions ... the late, larger than life Steve Irwin.

 

[Nutsy]

A magazine cover featuring the late Steve Irwin would be a popular option for an Australia Post stamp, according to an online poll.

Voting in an online poll by New Idea has the wildlife warrior well in front of other contenders including Princess Mary, Bec and Lleyton Hewitt and Nicole Kidman.

Australia Post have announced they will soon reproduce a New Idea cover featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the form of a 50 cent stamp.

The magazine was last week voted Magazine of the Year at the Magazine Publishers of Australia annual awards.

Any Steve Irwin stamp would join other current stamps such as the Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix series, the Brisbane Broncos series and the Looney Tunes characters series.

Another gossip magazine favourite - the Queen - has already been issued a 2007 birthday stamp by Australia Post.