‘LET ME SEE BINDI & ROBERT BEFORE I DIE’
Steve Irwin’s heartbroken father Bob has never given up hope that one day he will see his grandkids again
Turning 80 next year, quietly spoken Bob Irwin has only one wish before it’s too late – to sit down with his estranged grandchildren Robert and Bindi and share his precious stories about their much-loved dad Steve.
“It’s time the rift was mended,” shares one close friend of Bob’s.
“Regardless of the bad blood between [Steve’s wife] Terri and Bob, those two kids need to sit down with their grandfather and allow him to pass over to them their father’s great legacy... to tell them about the Steve he knew and loved.
“They should all be on the same page, and if they’re true wildlife warriors, then these stories and anecdotes from their father in his younger years are precious Irwin family memories.
“Bob doesn’t want to go to his grave with bitterness – and he doesn’t want them to live with regrets.”
REACHING OUT
Friends are so concerned about the feud that continues to break Bob’s heart they have reached out on social media, without his knowledge, and tried to contact Robert and Bindi.
“They’ve reached out on social media to both kids,” another friend says.
“It’s not something Bob asked us to do or even would have wanted us to do, but it breaks all our hearts to see how much he pines for those kids.”
RUNNING OUT OF TIME
Bob declined to speak about his feud with Terri, 53 or his estrangement from Robert and Bindi when contacted by Woman’s Day last week, but his friends insist he’s consumed with the hope he may see them again before he dies.
And with the veteran naturalist last month announcing he was retiring as the head of the Bob Irwin Wildlife & Conservation Foundation, friends worry time is running out to heal the family feud that has raged ever since he quit Australia Zoo more than a decade ago.
“If Steve’s mum Lyn, who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2000 was alive today, none of this would’ve happened,” explains his mate, who says Bob’s second wife Judy also wants to see a reconciliation.
“We hope that Bob waves the white flag and Bindi and Robert knock on their grandad’s door. I know he would always welcome them back into his life.” In Bob’s autobiography, The Last Crocodile Hunter: A Father And Son Legacy, published two years ago, he revealed how much he missed Robert, 14, and Bindi, 19, but still watched over them from afar.
FAMILY COMES FIRST
“While I haven’t seen them for a number of years, I will always feel proud standing on the sidelines and watching them succeed at whatever path they choose to follow,” he wrote.
“Steve was the proudest dad going around. Above all else, even wildlife, his favourite job was bringing into the world his two kids. It was the most important job in the world to him. His family always came first.
“It’s a profound time in their lives now because they are old enough to understand all those things their dad instilled in them – things that I had instilled in my boy before he was taken from us far too early.”
Bob’s mate says he takes huge pride in seeing how accomplished Robert and Bindi have become in the 10 years since he last spoke to them.
A PROUD GRANDFATHER
“He’s not getting any younger, and to see Bindi with a lovely, young man like [her boyfriend] Chandler, who also appears very much into wildlife conservation, and Robert embracing wildlife photography with such passion, they’re the things as a grandfather he’s most proud of,” the mate says.
For now, Bob lives for the day his two long-lost grandchildren walk back into his life – even if it’s for the very last time.
“I suspect he wants to be remembered as that old bloke who fought and worked tirelessly to preserve a world that is safe for many more Irwin generations,” his mate says.
‘Bob doesn’t want Bindi and Robert to live with regrets’