Travel Tips

People have driven all week to visit Australia Zoo - to pay homage to Steve Irwin - the man and conservationist - the hero to children and champion of Australian wildlife.

I went to visit the zoo on Saturday enroute to my weekend destination. I arrived early in the morning, and the traffic was steady but not gridlocked. There were police and ambulance officers at the ready for the day's crowd, which was expected to be signficant, as it was the first weekend day since Steve's death - and rumoured to be the day of his private funeral and interrment within the zoo.

Car after car unloaded families with bunches of flowers, children with proud self made offerings, and there were tears from all ages.

Several Australia Zoo signature Steve shirts were already hanging up - and more were available for people to write notes of condolences on - amidst all of the other personal notes and various offerings.

So many flowers - and the staff reported that what we could see what less than half of what had been delivered through the week - most taken away to be used as mulch inside the zoo.

Thousands of individual messages were left on display - in the way it has been reported, that although he was "famous" by most people's standards, he also achieved that impression that he was also everyone's friend.

There were many messages from overseas travellers as well as Aussies to be seen - and acknowledgement of his work and his character. There were also plenty of "crikey" cries to be heard - and the staff accepted gifts and posed for photographs with visitors.

Amongst the letters, card, notes, floral tributes, stitchings, drawing, paintings, poems and signs, there were a number of displays from children attending nearby schools. Posters and picture projects with hundreds of individual messages from students show how active Steve must have been in educating children in the local area, as well as his universal media appealhe crowd swelled from this 9.00am gathering to traffic jam and several

This relatively small 9.00am crowd swelled to traffic jam and several people deep groups passing by the dedications to leave something of their own, donations for Wildlife Warriors, or just stop and contemplate the passing of this man, who really always seemed larger than life. It just seems that his death must be leaving a chasm in the family he loved so much.

Yes, Steve Irwin made lots of us cringe - very much me included - but I was pleasantly surprised to have been so impressed many years ago, long before he was famous, with his sincerity and passion for what he did, when I first visited the very rough, unpolished, minus crocoseum Australia Zoo. One thing is undoubted, that this man had a steadfast dedication, without need for fame or fortune, to the conservation of crocodiles and other endangered and unappreciated wildlife. The fame and fortune were merely a vehicle to achieve his end. Like him or hate him, he left an indelible mark.