Number of posts : 2312 Age : 52 Location : The Dark Heart of Bardosylvania
Subject: Happy Birthday, Steve Irwin Sat Feb 23, 2019 3:37 am
So today's Google Doodle made me aware that February 22 is the birthday of that late, great, ultimate Australian, Steve Irwin.
13 years after he left us, we're still fascinated with the man. His tremendous strides towards wildlife conservation have let to numerous places and things being named after him and his signature expression "Crikey!", including a road running past the Australia Zoo, several wildlife refuges and national parks, a species of turtles, a species of land snails and an asteroid. He trained in the martial art style Gaidojutsu, he was a huge fan of cricket and rugby (as many Australians are), True Blue was his favorite song (so much so that Australian music star John Williamson sang True Blue at Irwin's funeral service), and he once stopped filming a documentary on sea lions so that he and his crew could join the search for two scuba divers who had gone missing in the ocean nearby. Overall, he was one hell of a man and a fine human being.
And Steve Irwin named his sweetie-pie daughter and heir apparent — Bindi Sue Irwin — after one of the female crocodiles at the Australia Zoo and after the family's dog, two of his favorite animals who ever lived. Bindi is a superb dancer, too, coming out in First Place with Derek Hough — and with eight perfect scores of 10 — after her season in Dancing with the Stars.