Fields of Gold; Daniel Ricciardo

Crikey

I'm sure I'm hallucinating, because the smiling faces I see in front of me are of people that I've followed for as long as I can remember and I've watched two of them grow up.
"Good morning Skylar, welcome to Australia Zoo." I hear the young woman say.
"I'm dreaming right, Daniel pinch me please." I hold out my arm in front of him and he pinches.
"Auw." Ok so not dreaming.

"Hi, how come you know my name?" I'm absolutely dumbfounded that I'm standing here in front of the Irwin's.
"Well your husband planned this day for you as a surprise and he contacted us to see if we could make it happen. Obviously we are happy to help." Bindi explains.
"I don't know what to say, I've been following you guys ever since I was a child. This is truly a dream come true."

I'm actually shaking hands with Bindi, Terri and Robert.
"Congratulations on your marriage and the little one of course." Robert says and I thank him.
"Ready for a day filled with animal encounters?" Bindi asks and I nod enthusiastically.
"Absolutely. This is amazing." I turn to Daniel who seems so happy with himself.
"This is crazy, but the best surprise ever. Thank you babe, I love you!" I pull him in a warm embrace, so thankful that he would make such an effort to make a dream of mine come true.

"I'd do anything for you, you know that. Now come on let's get going." He whispers in my ear and I let him go.
"Ready to go? First stop the Sumatran tigers." Bindi says enthusiastic as she always seems to be whenever I see her on videos.
"More than ready."
We follow them through the gates making our way to the tigers. I don't know what we're going to do there, but just watching them is already amazing.

We get to the enclosure, where I can already see the tigers.
"Oh they are beautiful, just look at them." I say in awe.
"Ready to meet them?" Robert asks.
"I'm sorry what?"
"They need some exercise, so we're going to go for a walk with them."
My eyes are going to pop out of their sockets hearing him.
"We're going to walk with the tigers?" I ask, just to check if I heard right.

"Exactly. I'll go over the rules first and then we'll take them for a stroll."
He explains what I can and cannot do, any interaction has to be instigated by the tigers, but I didn't expect anything else.
"Do you mind if we take pictures and maybe shoot some videos?" Robert asks me.
"Why would I mind, I hope I can have some of those pictures as well. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I will never forget it, but being able to look back at it with pictures would be great."

"We would like to post some of it online. It's always great to raise attention to what we try to do here if we have celebrities coming in." He explains making me smile.
"Well then you have to take pictures of Daniel. He's the famous one."
"He is, but so are you."
I almost start laughing, but he looks so serious I don't dare.
"Ehm, right. Ok."
After a short reminder of the rules he goes in to get the tigers.

They are absolutely gorgeous up close. They come and smell my clothes and one actually rubs his head against me as would a regular house cat.
"Let your hands down so he can sniff them." Robert says and it feels strange putting my hands in front of an animal that could easily kill me if he wanted to. Even though these are still quite young and not even close to their adult size.

I feel his nose against my skin and my heart races, I'm not scared but amazed by this encounter.
Especially when he starts to rub his head against my hand I'm sold.
"You can give him a scratch if you want." Bindi smiles and I gently scratch the tigers neck.

"Holy shit I'm actually petting a tiger." I say looking at Daniel with the biggest smile on my face.
After some scratches we go for the walk. The day has only just begun and it almost beats our wedding day. Almost.
After the walk they put the tigers back in their enclosure.
"Ready for your next encounter?" Bindi asks.
"There's more? I thought the tigers were it."