Crocodile hunter

Man, I'm devastated. Steve Irwin died today.

I remember seeing him years ago and thinking - wow, how embarassing. And the movie, gawd that was terrible.

But it didn't take long before watching his repeated leaps into the unknown with these fantastic wild-animals, his amazing zest for life, as well as that genuine feeling of "... Man, this guy just seems like a really nice and friendly guy .. someone you'd just want to hang out with" just kinda rubs off on you, y'know? And the terrible irony of it all is that he was filming a show to help demystify the apparent danger behind sting-rays.

Funnily, I went all teary-eyed when I heard about it - I'd been watching his show (go the Discovery channel) on almost every weekend. David Attenborough's great, and so is that Austin Stevens (the crazy South African snake-hunter) ... but the Crocodile Hunter is still one of those rare people that leave you with the urge to jump onto the nearest flight and head out to the Amazon. Or ... Australia.

My girlfriend told me today that they had a little show on Triple M going, where listeners were just calling up and havin' a go at Stevey - just some light-hearted (and perhaps not entirely appropriate) pokes/digs - a mere several hours after he had gone. But it was funny and helped everyone remember all the amusing things that had happened over the course of his career, and went down a lot better than something solemn. And apparently, somewhat fitting.

Hats off to you Steve. God bless your family ... though it's not much, at least they'll have a lot of memories (and footage) of you to remember you by.