'I've lost my best mate' says dad

WITH the positive philosophy for which his Crocodile Hunter son, Steve, was famous, Bob Irwin has told how he felt lucky to be the father of a man who was also his "best mate ever".

A quiet man carrying a deep personal grief as the nation mourns his family's loss, Mr Irwin yesterday painted a picture of two men bound not just by love for each other, but by a love of the bush.

"Steve and I weren't like father and son. We never were. We were good mates," he said of the world famous extrovert naturalist killed by a stingray barb while diving on Monday.

" I'm a lucky, lucky guy that I've had the opportunity to have a son like Steve," he said.'

While thanking everyone for the tributes and outpouring of support since his son's death off Cairns, Mr Irwin said he was not surprised by the magnitude of it all.

"He was an ordinary guy. He was just like a guy in the street and he had this ability to get through to people," he said. Mr Irwin said it was his son's "ordinary" status that led him to believe he would not have wanted the state funeral offered by the Queensland Government, although he said the decision would be made by his daughter-in-law, Terri.

Mr Irwin said he and his son had enjoyed many adventures together and talked about the dangers they presented.

"Steve knew the risks involved with the type of work he was doing and he wouldn't have wanted it any other way," he said.

"Both of us over the years have had some very close shaves and we both approached it the same way in that we made jokes of it.

"That's not to say we were careless but we treated it like it was just part of the job . . . nothing to worry about really." He said he had been fortunate in that he had spent the past month with Steve, Terri and the couple's children doing crocodile research at Cape York Peninsula.

Mr Irwin, after whom the couple's son Bob, now two, was named, indicated he would step forward to help at his son's Australia Zoo until his grandchildren were old enough to take over.

"Steve will want his work carried on," he said.


Glenis Green Brisbane