Robert Irwin spent three weeks main as much as his Dancing With the Stars debut removed from the glitzy Hollywood dance ground. He was coated in mud within the Australian bush on Cape York Peninsula, sleeping on a tent ground surrounded by wildlife, and naturally, catching crocodiles.  

“That’s the nice a part of attending to reside right here,” the 21-year-old Australian advised Journey + Leisure. “It is really easy to get out in the course of nowhere and simply overlook all the things. You are feeling such as you’re a part of one thing a lot larger than your self.”

However for the conservationist, there’s a private significance to the realm—it was a spot liked by his dad Steve Irwin, who died 19 years in the past this month when he was simply two years outdated. “It’s the place I really feel his power and his ardour greater than wherever else,” mentioned Irwin. The Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve protects 35 totally different ecosystems throughout 330,000 acres. “It’s an actual privilege to get to spend time there,” the proud son mentioned forward of the journey. “However then I go away straight from the crocodile analysis expedition—neck-deep in mud—and fly on to Hollywood for Dancing with the Stars! It’s going to be a little bit of a tradition shock.”

Whereas he claimed he could not have the dance abilities, he’s excited to showcase the Aussie ardour. “We undoubtedly have that dancing tradition, however we’re far much less refined,” he mentioned. “Each foolish dance transfer most likely got here from us—my go-to was at all times the sprinkler!” 

And he’s bought some profitable sneakers to fill, as his sister Bindi Irwin took dwelling the Mirror Ball Trophy in 2015. “You could possibly hear the screams of pleasure from Australia after I advised her I used to be going to do the present,” he mentioned of his childhood aim to compete, having been there for each step of Bindi’s journey. “The very first thing she mentioned is ‘make it your individual,’ which has caught with me.” 

Carving his personal path has been one thing Irwin has carried out all his life, regardless of “being on digicam since I used to be actually concerning the measurement of a loaf of bread.” Whereas very a lot following in his household’s footsteps because the zoo supervisor for Australia Zoo, he’s additionally put a give attention to pictures (his Instagram account is @robertirwinphotography), and travels to advocate for the Irwin nonprofit, Wildlife Warriors.

However he actually veered his personal manner this July, taking his first solo journey in a four-wheel drive alongside the south coast of Queensland into New South Wales. “Touring by yourself brings this new dynamic,” Irwin mentioned, admitting that “at first, it was just a little bit daunting.” 

Quickly, he discovered his footing, visiting seashores, browsing, skateboarding, and mountaineering solo. At one level, he hiked to a tucked-away seashore and located nobody there. “I bear in mind going, you understand what I will do? Completely nothing,” he mentioned. “I am not going to go to my subsequent cease. I am simply going to spend the entire day parked right here at this seashore, watching the world go by.”

Embracing the “liberating feeling,” he did have a small mishap when he stopped at Coffs Harbour’s The Jetty Pavilion for a salad. “A variety of pretty individuals needed to say hello and have an image,” which he was glad to bask in. “However I left in a little bit of a rush and completely forgot to pay!”

As sincere as he’s constructive, Irwin turned again, solely to seek out that phrase had gotten out and each media outlet on the town was ready to see if he’d come again to pay. “It was completely hilarious,” he mentioned. “And I do must shout out their salad, which was nice!”

Regardless of the mini hiccup, the solo journey was a throwback to his childhood travels. “If there was the choice and time to have the ability to road-trip someplace as a substitute of fly, we at all times took the chance,” he mentioned.

When he was 4, the household drove from Adelaide to Darwin, stopping in Uluru alongside the way in which. “It was simply probably the most fantastic time in my life to get out into the Crimson Centre, the place the dust’s purple within the desert—it will get in your nostril, in your pockets, in every single place,” he mentioned. “The sunsets are like nothing you’ve seen, just like the saturation has been turned manner up. It makes you are feeling such as you’re at one with the pure world.”

And as he bought older, he additionally hung out touring with simply Bindi. “It’s the good feeling whenever you begin to develop up and do issues by yourself, you are feeling such as you’re 10 toes tall,” Irwin mentioned. “Having an older sibling was like I had a second mum. Bindi’s solely six years older, however may be very conscientious and an actual caregiver. I may flex my independence, however I additionally had nearly a parental determine being like, ‘Now you’ve bought to brush your enamel!’” Nonetheless, he mentioned the 2 at all times “have a whole lot of enjoyable and barely get on one another’s nerves.” 

Whereas his relationship with Bindi has at all times been “close-knit,” he admitted he was “extraordinarily jealous” when she bought to movie a documentary on the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, the place he has but to go to. “She was sending footage of her casually chilling out subsequent to a whale shark, and I used to be internally screaming,” he mentioned. “That’s undoubtedly the subsequent cab off the rank for me!”

These days, household journeys embrace Bindi’s four-year-old daughter Grace, together with a latest journey to Disneyland, the place she was awestruck by Princess Tiana. “It’s the smartest thing in the entire world, watching your niece do all of the belongings you used to do as a child,” Irwin mentioned. “Grace has such an unimaginable power about her—there’s a lot of father’s genetics.”

These Irwin genes do certainly run deep, as he displays on his father’s legacy. “He is the embodiment of ardour, of residing life to 100%,” the TV persona mentioned. “If Australia had been an individual, it might be my dad. To like your wildlife, to be passionate, to have that spirit of mateship and camaraderie with everybody. He’s only a superhero to me.” 

The younger Irwin is little doubt his dad’s mini-me, lengthy an unofficial spokesperson for his beloved dwelling. Now he’s teamed up with Tourism Australia, hoping that extra vacationers will discover the “huge” continent. “Folks consider it as this little island nation that is kind of simply down, but it surely’s the identical measurement because the decrease 48 United States,” he mentioned. 

The gateway cities of Sydney and Melbourne are the right hubs to ease into the Aussie lifestyle, experiencing each its espresso tradition and metropolis buzz, he mentioned. However for Irwin, it’s all about getting out to the seashores in Sydney, the place he at all times goes “straight into the surf.” He additionally recommends adrenaline seekers go on the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Over in Melbourne, it’s all concerning the “next-level” meals and wine.

However Irwin says that “the true coronary heart of Australia is whenever you get out into the bush, whether or not that is into the Outback, up north into the rainforest, hitting up the seashores, or heading down south to someplace like Tasmania, discovering these little hidden gems, connecting with the locals—individuals, and wildlife.”

There isn’t any place extra expensive to him than the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, the place he grew up inside one in every of its most coveted points of interest, Australia Zoo, simply 5 minutes from a volcanic mountain vary and quarter-hour from the seashore.

“I had each child’s dream come true—I fairly actually grew up in the course of a zoo,” he mentioned. “It’s exhausting for me to even name it a zoo, it’s like a resort for wildlife and hub for conservation.” Set on a whole bunch of acres, his favourite spot is the kangaroo paddocks, particularly seeing “this superb little relationship unfold” between younger guests and the “peaceable” animals. After hours, he usually revels in “becoming a member of the roos for a nap.”

Irwin’s additionally pleased with the “stunning, sustainable, environmentally-focused luxurious lodging,” The Crocodile Hunter Lodge, which opened in 2022. In truth, chatting to us from the lodge, he marveled when a wild kangaroo jumped over to the window. “He’s watching the interview—that’s completely basic,” he mentioned, taking a photograph of the second. “That is the signal of an excellent zoo when animals are attempting to get in!”

However general for Irwin, there is a sense of wonderment for all issues Aussie. “The place I reside is a lot extra than simply dwelling—it’s actually the place my coronary heart beats from,” he mentioned. “I have been fortunate sufficient to journey to simply about each nook of the planet. If you come again to Australia, you are crammed with this sense of heat. There isn’t any different approach to describe it.”