Robert Irwin spent three weeks main as much as his Dancing With the Stars debut removed from the glitzy Hollywood dance flooring. He was coated in mud within the Australian bush on Cape York Peninsula, sleeping on a tent flooring surrounded by wildlife, and naturally, catching crocodiles.
“That’s the nice a part of attending to stay right here,” the 21-year-old Australian instructed Journey + Leisure. “It is really easy to get out in the course of nowhere and simply overlook the whole lot. You are feeling such as you’re a part of one thing a lot larger than your self.”
However for the conservationist, there’s a private significance to the realm—it was a spot liked by his dad Steve Irwin, who died 19 years in the past this month when he was simply two years previous. “It’s the place I really feel his power and his ardour greater than anyplace else,” mentioned Irwin. The Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve there protects 35 totally different ecosystems throughout 330,000 acres. “It’s an actual privilege to get to spend time there,” the proud son mentioned forward of the journey. “However then I depart straight from the crocodile analysis expedition—neck-deep in mud—and fly on to Hollywood for Dancing with the Stars! It’s going to be a little bit of a tradition shock.”
Paula Lobo/ABC
Whereas he claimed he might not have the dance expertise in our pre-DWTS interview, he was excited to showcase the Aussie ardour. “We undoubtedly have that dancing tradition, however we’re far much less refined,” he mentioned. “Each foolish dance transfer most likely got here from us—my go-to was all the time the sprinkler!”
And he’s received some successful footwear to fill, as his sister Bindi Irwin took residence the Mirror Ball Trophy in 2015. “You possibly can hear the screams of pleasure from Australia once I instructed her I used to be going to do the present,” he mentioned of his childhood objective to compete, having been there for each step of Bindi’s journey. “The very first thing she mentioned is ‘make it your personal,’ which has caught with me.”
With Robert Irwin
Window or aisle?
Window. I do not care if I gotta crawl over somebody, I’ve received to have a view, and I’ve received to take photos. I am that man. I have been on actually hundreds of flights, and each time I land, I all the time get my cellphone out and I movie. Each time!
How do you move the time on lengthy airplane rides?
When I’ve to, I compensate for emails and work, however often it’s an excuse to be like, film time! I used to be flying to London from Brisbane and looking out on the in-flight motion pictures underneath fashionable motion pictures. The primary one which confirmed up was my mum and pop’s film, “Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course!” It was so nostalgic watching that.
Very first thing you all the time pack?
I’ve received to have a digicam with me, I take photos of the whole lot. I’ve a Leica analog movie digicam—I particularly love a digicam that you must put the movie canister in. It is true pictures to me. I am like an previous man at coronary heart on the subject of pictures.
Favourite animal to {photograph}?
This most likely is not going to be a shock as a result of it additionally occurs to be my favourite animal usually: crocodiles. Lots of people see them as huge enamel, scary, they’re going to chunk you. However there’s a complete lot extra to them. They’re very loving and protecting—so awe-inspiring.
Most memorable wildlife journey?
I used to be snorkeling in Girl Elliot Island within the Nice Barrier Reef, and this whale and little child calf emerged from the deepest water and spent half an hour simply with me, so shut you possibly can attain out and contact it. That was most likely essentially the most transferring expertise of my life.
Carving his personal path has been one thing Irwin has executed all his life, regardless of “being on digicam since I used to be actually concerning the dimension of a loaf of bread.” Whereas very a lot following in his household’s footsteps because the zoo supervisor for Australia Zoo, he’s additionally put a deal with pictures (his Instagram account is @robertirwinphotography), and travels to advocate for the Irwin nonprofit, Wildlife Warriors.
However he actually veered his personal approach this July, taking his first solo journey in a four-wheel drive alongside the south coast of Queensland into New South Wales. “Touring by yourself brings this new dynamic,” Irwin mentioned, admitting that “at first, it was somewhat bit daunting.”
Quickly, he discovered his footing, visiting seashores, browsing, skateboarding, and mountain climbing solo. At one level, he hiked to a tucked-away seaside and located nobody there. “I bear in mind going, you already know what I’ll do? Completely nothing,” he mentioned. “I am not going to go to my subsequent cease. I am simply going to spend the entire day parked right here at this seaside, watching the world go by.”
Embracing the “releasing feeling,” he did have a small mishap on the journey when he stopped at Coffs Harbour’s The Jetty Pavilion for a salad. “A variety of beautiful individuals needed to say hello and have an image,” which he was completely happy to bask in. “However I left in a little bit of a rush and completely forgot to pay!”
As sincere as he’s constructive, Irwin turned again, solely to search out that phrase had gotten out and each media outlet on the town was ready to see if he’d come again to pay. “It was completely hilarious,” he mentioned. “And I do must shout out their salad, which was nice!”
Kate Berry
Regardless of the mini hiccup, the solo journey was a throwback to his childhood travels. “If there was the choice and time to have the ability to road-trip someplace as an alternative of fly, we all the time took the chance,” he mentioned.
When he was 4, the household drove from Adelaide to Darwin, stopping in Uluru alongside the best way. “It was simply essentially the most fantastic time in my life to get out into the Pink Centre, the place the grime’s pink within the desert—it will get in your nostril, in your pockets, in all places,” he mentioned. “The sunsets are like nothing you’ve seen, just like the saturation has been turned approach up. It makes you are feeling such as you’re at one with the pure world.”
And as he received older, he additionally hung out touring with simply Bindi. “It’s the best feeling whenever you begin to develop up and do issues by yourself, you are feeling such as you’re 10 ft tall,” Irwin mentioned. “Having an older sibling was like I had a second mum. Bindi’s solely six years older, however may be very conscientious and an actual caregiver. I may flex my independence, however I additionally had virtually a parental determine being like, ‘Now you’ve received to brush your enamel!’” Nonetheless, he mentioned the 2 all the time “have plenty of enjoyable and barely get on one another’s nerves.”
Whereas his relationship with Bindi has all the time been “close-knit,” he admitted he was “extraordinarily jealous” when she received to movie a documentary on the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, the place he has but to go to. “She was sending photos of her casually chilling out subsequent to a whale shark, and I used to be internally screaming,” he mentioned. “That’s undoubtedly the subsequent cab off the rank for me!”
These days, household journeys embody Bindi’s four-year-old daughter Grace, like a latest journey to Disneyland, the place she was awestruck by Princess Tiana. “It’s the neatest thing in the entire world, watching your niece do all of the stuff you used to do as a child,” Irwin mentioned. “Grace has such an unimaginable power about her—there may be a lot of father’s genetics.”
These Irwin genes do certainly run deep, as he displays on his father’s legacy. “He is the embodiment of ardour, of dwelling life to 100%,” the TV character mentioned. “If Australia have been an individual, it might be my dad. To like your wildlife, to be passionate, to have that spirit of mateship and camaraderie with everybody. He’s only a superhero to me.”
The younger Irwin is little question his dad’s mini-me, lengthy an unofficial spokesperson for his beloved residence. Now he’s teamed up with Tourism Australia for the subsequent chapter of their Come and Say G’day marketing campaign, hoping that extra vacationers will discover the “large” continent. “Individuals consider it as this little island nation, nevertheless it’s the identical dimension because the decrease 48 United States,” he mentioned.
Paparwin Tanupatarachai/Getty Pictures
The gateway cities of Sydney and Melbourne are the right hubs to ease into the Aussie lifestyle, experiencing each its espresso tradition and metropolis buzz, he mentioned. However for Irwin, it’s all about getting out to the seashores in Sydney, the place he all the time goes “straight into the surf.” He additionally recommends adrenaline seekers go on the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Over in Melbourne, it’s all concerning the “next-level” meals and wine.
However Irwin says that “the actual coronary heart of Australia is whenever you get out into the bush, whether or not that is into the Outback, up north into the rainforest, hitting up the seashores, or heading down south to someplace like Tasmania, discovering these little hidden gems, connecting with the locals, individuals, and wildlife.”
There isn’t any place extra pricey to him than the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, the place he grew up inside considered one of its most coveted sights, Australia Zoo, simply 5 minutes from a volcanic mountain vary and quarter-hour from the seaside.
“I had each child’s dream come true—I fairly actually grew up in the course of a zoo,” he mentioned. “It’s arduous for me to even name it a zoo, it’s like a resort for wildlife and hub for conservation.” Set on tons of of acres, his favourite spot is the kangaroo paddocks, particularly seeing “this wonderful little relationship unfold” between younger guests and the “peaceable” animals. After hours, he typically revels in “becoming a member of the roos for a nap.”
Irwin’s additionally pleased with the “lovely, sustainable, environmentally-focused luxurious lodging,” The Crocodile Hunter Lodge, which opened in 2022. In truth, chatting to us from the lodge, he marveled when a wild kangaroo jumped over to the window. “He’s watching the interview—that’s completely traditional,” he mentioned, taking a photograph of the second. “That is the signal of a great zoo when animals are attempting to get in!”
However general for Irwin, there is a sense of wonderment for all issues Aussie. “The place I stay is a lot extra than simply residence—it’s actually the place my coronary heart beats from,” he mentioned. “I have been fortunate sufficient to journey to only about each nook of the planet. While you come again to Australia, you are stuffed with this sense of heat. There isn’t any different method to describe it.”