Steve Irwin's father shares last moment he spent with him

Steve Irwin’s Father, Bob Irwin has written a beautiful book, The Last Crocodile Hunter: A Father and Son Legacy, as a tribute to his late son.

In an exclusive extract shared with news.com.au, Bob Irwin opens up about the last time he saw his son before he was tragically killed in September 2006,  after month-long crocodile research project in Cape York.

"I’d packed up the last of my gear, leaving ahead of the rest of the team, doing one final check of the ropes, securing everything on the back of the truck when Steve came over to say goodbye. He shook my hand. When we made the usual eye contact, I noticed he appeared somewhat emotional. I realised that the end of his time in the bush was weighing heavily on his mind after the conversation we’d had the night before around the campfire.

“See ya later, Bob.”

He always called me Bob; he called me a lot of other things as well, but when we were on our own, he simply called me Bob. I liked that, it made me feel pretty close to him. Because after all of these years I didn’t feel like just his dad, we were more than just father and son. It went way beyond that, a long way.
“See ya, Steve. Take it a bit easier,” I said.

I drove away feeling a portion of the weight of my son’s pain as I caught him in my rear-view mirror staring blankly at the red tail-lights of my truck. The truck’s lights were my wave goodbye.

You never expect that’s the last time you’re ever going to see your son, but I certainly had a feeling he sensed something was about to happen."

You can read the full exclusive extract from Bob Irwin at news.com.au