My Steve Irwin Memorial experience.
Well yesterday was a very emotional day. i woke up bright and early to get on the road by 5.30 to get to the Australia zoo by 7. The place was as packed as it could be, and i was worried that my 2 year old would make a fuss and not be able to sit through the service, but as we were waiting in line to go into the crocoseum who should walk past us but Anthony the wiggle, she said hi and he waved to her and said hi back.
then the Prime minister, premier and Beasly walked past and also waved, but no one took any notice. hehe.
So after an hour and a half of standing in line we finally sat down in the crocoseum, and i started to worry that she would make a fuss after an already big day, (we had been up since 4.30 ) but when her favourite wiggle came out and mc'd the event, she thought it was a wiggle show, after watching the wiggely safari so many times, she thinks Steve was the fifth wiggle, and everytime she saw him on tv she would say, "see mummy, wiggles" so she was well behaved and thought she was at a wiggle show
The emotion in the air was very dicotic, with joy and happiness that Steve was, and sadness and tears that he is now gone. The crowd rose to their feet as Terri, Bindi, Bob and Bob took their seats and tears flowed openly from everyone there. With the tributes, songs and speaches, the crowd became more and more united in our joy and grief, with a concophany of cheers and sobs in equal measure.
When Bindi graced the stage to give her speach, the whole house lept to their feet in a standing ovation, and the only dry eyes during her eualgy were her own. It was heartbreaking to witness her strength, and sobs could be heard loudly as she left the stage.
We sang, we cried and we laughed during what was to be the celebration of Steve's wonderful, albeit short life. The crowd became so connected in the singing, cooeeing and tears, that as the service ended and the cameras shut down, a single voice called out "Aussie Aussie Aussie" and the whole 5000 there resounded with a perfectly timed "OI OI OI" almost as if it had been practiced, but it hadn't, everyone was just so totally interconnected in heart, that not one OI was out of time.
So after the service we spent a wonderful day at the zoo. (and wouldn't you know it, i even found people i knew amongst the throng) I introduced my girls to some animals they had never seen, and my youngest had a ball feeding and cuddeling our national mascots.
All the donations were put into the wildlife warriors collection boxes, letters that were printed and put in binders were presented along with flowers and presents for the kids, with the hundreds of other tributes along the fences of the crocoseum,,,and i also spent a small fortune on merchandies, namely plush toys for the kids, and a T for me.
I feel more settled after being able to partake in the memorial, and fullfilled in the knowledge that little Bindi will walk in her dads footsteps and people all over the world will not let Steves dream of conservation die with him. The tradgedy of loosing Steve will be soffened by the amount of good that can be done in his name thanks to the donations flooding in from all over the globe to his wildlife warriors. His dream will out live us all.
Thanks to everyone who donated and wrote letters, they did indeed arrive as promised
Mwah.
Sil.
Well yesterday was a very emotional day. i woke up bright and early to get on the road by 5.30 to get to the Australia zoo by 7. The place was as packed as it could be, and i was worried that my 2 year old would make a fuss and not be able to sit through the service, but as we were waiting in line to go into the crocoseum who should walk past us but Anthony the wiggle, she said hi and he waved to her and said hi back.
then the Prime minister, premier and Beasly walked past and also waved, but no one took any notice. hehe.
So after an hour and a half of standing in line we finally sat down in the crocoseum, and i started to worry that she would make a fuss after an already big day, (we had been up since 4.30 ) but when her favourite wiggle came out and mc'd the event, she thought it was a wiggle show, after watching the wiggely safari so many times, she thinks Steve was the fifth wiggle, and everytime she saw him on tv she would say, "see mummy, wiggles" so she was well behaved and thought she was at a wiggle show
The emotion in the air was very dicotic, with joy and happiness that Steve was, and sadness and tears that he is now gone. The crowd rose to their feet as Terri, Bindi, Bob and Bob took their seats and tears flowed openly from everyone there. With the tributes, songs and speaches, the crowd became more and more united in our joy and grief, with a concophany of cheers and sobs in equal measure.
When Bindi graced the stage to give her speach, the whole house lept to their feet in a standing ovation, and the only dry eyes during her eualgy were her own. It was heartbreaking to witness her strength, and sobs could be heard loudly as she left the stage.
We sang, we cried and we laughed during what was to be the celebration of Steve's wonderful, albeit short life. The crowd became so connected in the singing, cooeeing and tears, that as the service ended and the cameras shut down, a single voice called out "Aussie Aussie Aussie" and the whole 5000 there resounded with a perfectly timed "OI OI OI" almost as if it had been practiced, but it hadn't, everyone was just so totally interconnected in heart, that not one OI was out of time.
So after the service we spent a wonderful day at the zoo. (and wouldn't you know it, i even found people i knew amongst the throng) I introduced my girls to some animals they had never seen, and my youngest had a ball feeding and cuddeling our national mascots.
All the donations were put into the wildlife warriors collection boxes, letters that were printed and put in binders were presented along with flowers and presents for the kids, with the hundreds of other tributes along the fences of the crocoseum,,,and i also spent a small fortune on merchandies, namely plush toys for the kids, and a T for me.
I feel more settled after being able to partake in the memorial, and fullfilled in the knowledge that little Bindi will walk in her dads footsteps and people all over the world will not let Steves dream of conservation die with him. The tradgedy of loosing Steve will be soffened by the amount of good that can be done in his name thanks to the donations flooding in from all over the globe to his wildlife warriors. His dream will out live us all.
Thanks to everyone who donated and wrote letters, they did indeed arrive as promised
Mwah.
Sil.
