Crocodile Hunter’s widow write book
Rod Mcguirk

BEERWAH(Australia)—For grieving widow Terri Irwin, writing a book about her life with “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin was a painfully raw ordeal. But she says the outpouring of public grief that followed the iconic nature lover’s death last year planted in her a sense of obligation to his millions of fans around the world.
“I felt kind of compelled to do something so that people could sit down and understand Steve better and where he came from and what we stood for and what we tried to achieve,” the 43-year-old Oregon-born mother-of-two told The Associated Press at the family zoo in northeast Australia.
“I’d been so kind of self-absorbed with my own sadness that I hadn’t really thought about everybody else ... so I thought maybe a book would help people to come to know the human side of Steve.”
Her husband, Steve Irwin, renowned through his nature TV series as a fearless wrangler of crocodiles and snakes, died at age 44 Sept. 4, 2006, from a freak flick of a stingray’s barbed tail during an underwater documentary shoot on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Terri Irwin, married for 14 years, began writing Steve and Me: Life With the Crocodile Hunter,” entitled “My Steve” in Australia, four months later as she traveled to continue the family’s multifaceted business and wildlife projects.
“I spent months on end crying and crying and crying; remembering the hard times was hard and remembering the good times was hard,” she said. His toothbrush remains in Irwin’s bathroom and his trademark khaki shirts hang ironed in her closet.
How painful an experience was the writing? “Extremely,” she said. Cathartic? “No, not even remotely,” she replied.
“They ebb and flow, just like I do,” she said. Daughter Bindi is 9, and Robert turns 4 in December.
“For me personally, it’s that one day at a time feeling and I’ve chosen to continue as if Steve was still here,” Irwin said. “I really believe if anyone thought of Steve as a hero, everything he lived for and believed in must continue.” His toothbrush remains in Irwin’s bathroom and his trademark khaki shirts hang ironed in her closet.
Just how fragile she remains and how raw the hurt is became apparent about 30 minutes into the interview in the zoo’s kangaroo enclosure when she burst into tears. She refused to take a break.
“Don’t even pause, I do this all the time,” she said through her tears.
“We’ll pretend this is water,” she joked as she took a swig from a water bottle handed to her by a visibly concerned staffer.
What triggered her tears was a discussion about how her children are coping with their father’s death.
Robert talks about it, she said. “Bindi gets emotional regularly but not frequently and I’m really proud that they’re coping. I think that’s a point of pride that Steve was so good about — exposing them to the cycle of life in the zoo.”
Steve Irwin is very much present at the zoo near the tiny township of Beerwah, 50 miles north of Brisbane, where Terri Irwin first came as a tourist in 1991 and saw her future husband with the crocs. Signs remind visitors that they are in “Australia Zoo: Home of the Crocodile Hunter.” It is also his final resting place but the location of his grave is a secret. The zoo was built on the site of a modest reptile park opened by Steve Irwin’s parents, Bob and Lyn, in 1970.
Irwin has declared Nov. 15 Steve Irwin Day — a date to remember his life and mission to conserve wildlife. It is the birthday of his favorite giant Galapagos tortoise, Harriet, who died in June at the age of 176. It is also the launch day for the new book.
Before his death, a visit to the zoo carried the possibility of seeing the larger-than-life Wildlife Warrior in person. He would delight the crowds as he manhandled crocodiles and snakes in the specially built “Crocosium.” The audience was guaranteed a “crikey” or two.