Every morning, Robert Irwin wakes up to the sound of two different animals competing for his attention. The first is something most rural Australians can probably relate to pretty well: the chickens in his backyard. The second? Well, those are tigers, which probably tells you everything you need to know about Robert's unique living situation at Australia Zoo.
"I usually get woken up as the sun comes up, let the chickens out and collect their eggs, then make myself some breakfast," he told Mamamia. "By that time, I can start to hear the lemurs waking up too!"
With 1,200 animals on-site at Australia Zoo, there's no time to spare in the mornings, so Robert is straight out on his dad's old restored motorbike to see what needs to be done for the day.
No two days are the same, but Robert does have a favourite animal he always makes time for: "My beeline is straight to the crocodiles," he said. "They've always been my passion, it must run in the Irwin blood. I've always had a soft spot for crocs."
Watch: Tame weeknight dinners with HelloFresh (and Robert Irwin). Post continues below.
"Morning is a beautiful time of day at the zoo as everyone is waking up. I'll also jump in and say g'day to the kangaroos, maybe do some kangaroo yoga."
With so much going on, there's no such thing as a "typical" day at Australia Zoo — from feeding the animals, to filming the latest HelloFresh ad (featuring said animals!).
"As much as I love food, my days usually get that busy that I have to set myself a reminder to eat because I'm so flat stick," Robert said. "Grocery shopping is the last thing on my mind, but I know I'm covered with HelloFresh to sort out my dinner plans.
"The routine changes every day, which is what I love. But no matter what I'm doing I'll feed the crocs in our daily demo."
The rest of the day might involve cleaning out animal habitats, visiting the alligator lagoon, checking in with guests — and of course, the real challenge: "keeping all the animals fed without becoming food yourself!"
Some animals require special attention throughout the day, and one of those is DJ the Southern White Rhino. "He does love a good scratch!" Robert laughed.
"He's just amazing — he weighs two tonnes but acts like a big old labrador, so I give him a scratch any chance I get. Usually he comes out of his mud wallow in the morning and dries like a piece of pottery in the sun, so I find it very therapeutic to pick all that dirt off him."
Robert confessed there is an important job at Australia Zoo he really doesn't look forward to.
"Every minute is fun, which isn't to say that it doesn't have its ups and downs. The Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital [located on the Australia Zoo grounds] does a lot of work in the rehabilitation space for injured native wildlife, so there are plenty of times when it is sad: in the hospital rescuing 130,000 native animals, you do come across wildlife that is too far gone to save. It breaks your heart, but you have to hold onto the positivity and think about every animal you get to release back into the wild."
When asked what might surprise people most about a day at Australia Zoo, Robert let me know that with animals, what you see is rarely what you get — and sometimes, the cuter the animal, the less cuddly they are.
"Probably one of the sweetest and most affectionate creatures at Australia Zoo is a Komodo dragon called Inda," Robert said.
"She's big, venomous, with teeth like a shark, this great big prehistoric animal, and she'll run over to you for a big old cuddle." On the other hand, "there's a wombat or two who has given me a solid run for my money!"
As the day draws to a close, you'll normally find the Irwin family eating dinner around the firepit. "My house, my mum's house, my sister and my little niece, our backyards all join together, so when we're all at home, we eat together pretty much every night," Robert shared.
"For me, the most important things to me are wildlife, conservation and family," he told Mamamia. "Our family never stops, we're flat out like a lizard drinking, but we know that getting the family together is the most important thing," he said.
After a huge day, the last thing Robert wants to be worrying about is what's for dinner. So, he loves often using the HelloFresh meal plans — delivered straight to his door with pre-portioned ingredients and recipe cards — to take the planning out of dinnertime.
"With HelloFresh I can do that in a way that's easy and fresh, and just stress-free," he said.
Food has always been important to the Irwins, and the whole family pride themselves on being adventurous eaters.
"Dad was an incredible chef and loved a good curry," Robert reminisced. "Now there's not much of anything that I won't give a go — spice, bring it on. If I'm trying something new, I'm always 100 per cent into it."
Robert said he loves the personalisation HelloFresh offers to his tastes, as much as the convenience and consistency.
"A lot of the time you feel like there's a tradeoff between nutritious and fast, but with HelloFresh I know what I'm consuming and that it'll make me feel good. I mean, I'm often adding more protein to my dinners to build up that muscle density — gotta keep those croc-catching gains coming!"
With such a busy schedule, dinner doesn't always signal the end of Robert's day. "I live at the zoo, so my job is technically 24/7," he laughed. "I can't really sit still, which is good because our work definitely doesn't stop when the gates close.
"We're running conservation projects on a global scale, so a lot of what we do is international and in different timezones, and then of course our wildlife hospital is up and running day and night every single day."
Whatever else is on the agenda, though, Robert prides time with his family above all else. "We're the most tight-knit family, and very much what you see is what you get. Last night Grace and I were having a little jam session on the guitar. We always make sure we make time for dinner together, to chill out and enjoy."
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Feature Image: Instagram/@robertirwinphotography