A Koala Called Kent - A Robert Irwin Story

We Lost Kent

When Bindi got married in 2020 the world was just about to enter into the Covid-19 crisis. So much of her wedding was changed and she had to miss out on so many things. Though the day was still magical in so many ways, so much had to be changed. No one involved thought they would ever attend another wedding where so much had to be changed so close to the date.

Until they started planning for my wedding.

I stood looking at myself in the mirror. My wedding dress was perfect, it had been designed to represent both Terri and my Moms dresses and it fit my body time perfectly. My hair had been styled into that typical half up half down Princess style and my face was covered by my veil. I held my bouquet of white flowers in front of myself and took a deep breath. There was a knock at the door. Without invite my Dad walked in and his eyes immediately filled with tears. He held out his arm to me and we began our walk to meet my husband at the end of the aisle.

We had been planning on hosting our wedding on the African plains but due to the helicopter crash we couldn't. I also couldn't walk too far thanks to my recent shark attack and so we had opted to have the wedding on the lawn at the front of our house. The reception was going to be held in the back- at least that part of the plan was staying the same. I wasn't sure how everything else was going to transfer but as I walked out of the house my heart almost exploded.

Bind and my friends Kendra, Livvy and, Jane had truly outdone themselves. It was magical. White chairs had been laid out for the guests and a pink ribbon with white flowers provided the decoration for the carpet aisle which had been rolled out. Some of my favorite animals were also in attendance. As I reached the front I saw Wes and Chandler stood holding the Zebras and Jane holding a Koala... no not just any Koala, she was holding Kent! I held my hand out and stroked him before reaching the front of the aisle and standing beside Robert.

He was so handsome Dressed in his blue suit with his khaki colored bow tie... what's an Irwin wedding without a little khaki. My Dad turned me around, kissed my cheek and then passed my hand over to Robert who kissed it before reaching up and folding my veil back over my hair. He let out a deep, shaking breath. He was nervous. How could he be nervous? This man feeds crocodiles for a living. I was nervous too. I could feel my hands clamming up. Robert saw my nerves and leaned in closer,

"It's just you, me and Kent," he said, causing me to giggle a little.

"You, me and Kent," I repeated with a nod. I turned back and looked at the Koala who was happily munching on a Eucalyptus leaf. Oh how I loved that Koala.

I couldn't take my eyes off Robert. I genuine could not blink of remove my gaze from him. He was mesmerizing. His hair was perfectly styled, his smile was contagious, his sun kissed skin was giving off a warm glow and his suit clung tightly to him in all the right places. I could not stop looking at him, he was Godlike. There was a glow about him that I had never seen before and that glow was drawing me to him, captivating me, and wasn't allowing me to look anywhere but at him.

"Now Clemence, if you'd like to say your vows to Robert," the officiant said. I nodded.

"Robert," I said softly. "You are my best friend, you are my biggest supporter in anything and everything that I do. I couldn't imagine standing here with anyone else. You bring so much to my life and I promise today in front of all of our friends and family that I will do everything I can do every day to show you how much I love, cherish and appreciate you. I will support every decision you make, even if we don't agree on it all. I will sit patiently with you and bring non-crunchy and odorless snacks while you wait to take the perfect picture. I will watch in awe every time you pain a new master piece and I will reassure you every time that you say they're not good enough. I will wait in the car with a first aid kit every time you go mountain biking with Wes and I promise I will never stop you from head jumping a Crocodile no matter how scared I am that it is going to swallow you whole. I love you with all my heart, body and soil and I cannot wait to introduce myself to the world as your wife."

Though Kent had performed outstandingly at our proposal, we didn't trust him to completely make the walk down the aisle by himself and so when it came time for the rings we had Jane bring Kent down to us. The rings had been tried around his middle and so when he arrived at the altar we both took our ring from off his back. I placed my ring on Roberts finger and he placed his on mine and then the officiant said the words I had been waiting what felt like my entire life to hear,

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. Robert you may..." Robert didn't need to wait to permission. He stepped forward and swept me closer to him. His lips touched mine and it felt just like our first kiss was happening all over again. Electricity ran through my nerves and everything surrounding me was blacked out. I could no longer hear the clapping, or the whistling, or the crying. I could just hear my own heart thumping against my rib cage as Robert's lips crashed against mine.

The after party was exactly that, the biggest party I had ever seen at Australia Zoo and I had seen some pretty good parties here in my time. After spending a little time with Kent, Bindi and Chandler said goodnight early and took him back to the reserve. It was so amazing to see him again. He probably didn't understand the interruption but I like to think that for the short time he was back at the Zoo he felt somewhat at home, like he was with family again.

I can't remember what time we finally said goodnight to everyone and made it upstairs to bed ourselves but when I woke up the following morning I felt as though I hadn't slept at all. We packed the last of our vacation things into our suitcases and then headed downstairs to find Wes preparing breakfast for everyone.

"Good morning love birds," Wes said causing us both to blush as we laughed and brushed it off.

"Where is everyone?" I asked noticing a sudden lack of people in the kitchen. Usually when Wes was cooking up a special breakfast everyone was hovering like vultures for the first plateful of food. Wes suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Oh just out at the reserve," he said and turned away from us to focus on the toast which had just popped up out of the toaster.

"The reserve?" Robert said, "since when had they been going to the reserve?" he asked as he went into the fridge and got out the glass jug of orange juice. I was watching Wes the entire time, he was tense and shuffling from foot to foot.

"What is it Wes?" I asked him,

"Oh nothing for you two to worry about, besides don't you leave for your honey moon soon?" he asked.

"Yeah straight after we've eaten," Robert said. Wes began to plate up the food. Something was still wrong.

"Wes why are they at the reserve?" I asked again.

"Why don't you just enjoy your breakfast Ness," he said, this finally caught Roberts attention.

"You're not hiding something from us are you Wes?" he asked. Wes couldn't lie to Robert.

"It's Kent," he eventually said with a sigh, "they checked his tracker this morning to see if he was doing alright after the wedding yesterday, and well they couldn't find him..."

"Did he lose his tracker here?" Robert asked. It was perfectly normal for animals to lose their trackers, it happened all the time.

"No, his tracker showed up but it hadn't moved all night. Bindi and Chandler went to check on him this morning but there was no sign of him, just a struggle."

"A struggle?" I asked,

"Like something had attacked him," Wes added.

"But how would it get into the reserve?" Robert asked,

"they found some tunnel holes," Wes said sadly. Robert quickly took my hand,

"They'll find him," he told me calmly. I nodded. I was sure they'd find him but in what state?