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"Crikey! We will miss you."
Scrawled on a condolence note, the message summed up the sense of loss triggered by the shock death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.
It was one of many tributes left by thousands of stunned and teary mourners who gathered at a massive floral memorial outside Irwin's wildlife park on the Sunshine Coast yesterday.
Tributes have been sent from around the world to his grief-stricken family after Irwin, 44, was killed on Monday by a stingray's barb while filming on the Great Barrier Reef, in what experts and officials said was a freak accident.
Words from the heart
A steady stream of fans laid flowers, cards and other Irwin-esque tokens such as stuffed crocodiles, gum boots and Aussie flags at the zoo's entrance.
"Steve is the bomb", "you are one of the greatest legends"; "Stevo, 'wow what a little beauty' you were to this country and state"; "Steve, our hero, our legend, our wildlife warrior"; "I thought you were immortal. How I wish that was true" were some of the countless condolence messages left at the colourful memorial.
Some signed their condolences on a khaki shirt, typical of the kind worn by Irwin, while others placed flowers in the mouth of a large timber crocodile at the zoo's gates.
Grieving staff described the naturalist as a "great boss and great friend who treated us like family" as they pledged to keep the theme park stores open indefinitely. Lynette Johnston, looking up at a massive poster of Irwin holding a crocodile to his face, eyes and mouth wide open with excitement, struggled to come to terms with the icon's death.
"I've come here to let it sink in but it hasn't," she said. "I just feel so sorry for [his wife] Terri and the kids, they were all so close."
Despite not knowing him personally, Johnston said she felt like she had lost a member of her own family.
"It's just the way he dealt with the public, he spoke to people like they were human beings, he was your everyday bloke."
Her 5-year-old son Thomas said he was sad because he would no longer see his hero "jump on a croc's back and swim with the whales". Australia Zoo spokeswoman Louise Martin said staff at the zoo were overwhelmed by the outpouring of emotion. "It's so nice to see them showing their support even if they didn't know Steve.
"It's good that they feel like they can connect with him. It's just amazing."
She said the intense reaction was triggered by his larrikin nature.
"He's one of these Aussie guys you feel you can have a laugh with," she said. "I guess we also realise the impact he had, not only in Australia, but the rest of the world." Fellow employee Gail Gipp added: "Australians are just realising what they have lost."
Hate mails for rival
A man who publicly feuded with Irwin over the right to call himself The Crocodile Hunter says he has been swamped with hate mail since the naturalist's death. Mick Pitman, who claims to be Australia's original "Croc Hunter", was locked in a bitter dispute with Irwin over the use of the term after the celebrity threatened him with legal action in 2004.
Pitman said he had been inundated with "a couple of hundred" abusive e-mails since Irwin's death. "I'm getting so much stuff like 'Hope you catch Aids' and "Steve Irwin was the only ever Crocodile Hunter'," Pitman said.
He said the e-mails had all been sent by people overseas. Pitman, 48, said he was saddened at the news of Irwin's death but fans had taken the abuse too far.
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