\n\tIn celebration of his new role, the proud Aussie chats with The Hollywood Reporter about everything from his perfect Australia itinerary and top travel tips to his Dancing With the Stars<\/a> debut<\/a> and, of course, that internet-breaking underwear shoot<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tLook at your backdrop!<\/p>\n \n\tI don\u2019t want to brag, but I\u2019m currently in a beautiful field full of kangaroos. And they\u2019re all eating, so I\u2019m just watching them. There are little joeys coming out of the pouch right now. You should be here.<\/p>\n \n\tI wish.<\/p>\n \n\tWell, by the end of this, you\u2019ll be very well convinced to come over. If there\u2019s one thing I can talk about, it\u2019s home \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s Australia. Also, I hear you\u2019re a Dancing With The Stars<\/a> fan. We\u2019ve got to get into that.<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019m obsessed.<\/p>\n \n\tSo am I! Isn\u2019t it crazy? Like, what a full circle thing. I have so many memories of being there and watching [my sister, Bindi]. I was just in such awe. You know, she won with flying colors. So no pressure [laughs]. But I just want to follow in her footsteps and bring that kind of passion and energy into it. I don\u2019t expect to do half the job she did. But it was like a little childhood dream that I\u2019ve had for 10 years. It feels pretty wild that I\u2019m finally fulfilling it.<\/p>\n \n\tit\u2019s going to be so fun. Every time someone\u2019s on that show they say it feels like a family. <\/p>\n \n\tTotally. And so many of them are still there 10 years on, so it\u2019s really special. It feels like coming home. It\u2019s so funny, I go from neck deep in mud in the mangroves catching crocodiles in remote Australia, and I literally fly direct to Hollywood from there to start dancing\u2026 I don\u2019t know what\u2019s scarier, crocodiles or West Hollywood.<\/p>\n \n\tThat is hilarious. And so true. <\/p>\n \n\tI spend a lot of time in America. It\u2019s a second home for me, it really is. But then you come to Australia and everything just slows down. You take that big breath and everything\u2019s just really chill. And I think we\u2019re so chill because we\u2019re surrounded by, like, the coolest wildlife and the coolest beaches and rainforests. <\/p>\n \n\tYou really are the perfect ambassador for Australia. How did this partnership come about?<\/p>\n \n\tWell, I am probably one of the proudest Aussies in the entire world. I love where I live so much. I\u2019ve gotten to travel a lot throughout my life, but whenever I come home, I just feel such a sense of connection to this place. It\u2019s where my heart beats from. It\u2019s where I live. So when Australia said to me, \u201cMate, we want you to be the frontrunner to represent Australia to the world,\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cWhere do I sign?\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tIncredible. If you were going to make someone an itinerary, what would be on it? <\/p>\n \n\tSo first of all, and not that I\u2019m biased, but you\u2019re going to want to touch down in Brisbane, on the east coast of Australia. And the first place you\u2019re going to head to is my home, Australia Zoo<\/a>, which, I mean, it\u2019s hard to even call it a zoo. It\u2019s this beautiful, big sanctuary with rescued animals and wildlife from around the world. It\u2019s just this incredible haven of conservation. Spend some time at our lodge<\/a>, go and see the sights and then enjoy the Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd the most amazing thing about the east coast of Australia is you can travel all the way down north to south, and I guarantee you, if you spend some time, you\u2019ll find a beautiful, white, sandy beach, perfect sunshine day, crystal blue water and no one else there. We have some of the best little hidden gem beach spots in the world. And then I would say get out to The Great Barrier Reef. We\u2019ve got a place called Lady Elliot Island, which is the southernmost island on the Great Barrier Reef. Some of the best wildlife experiences I\u2019ve ever had have been there. Then, go down to Tasmania to Cradle Mountain.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd then the Outback. It\u2019s the one place I think a lot of people kind of overlook. Get out into the red dirt, into the desert. And I think what sets us apart is our deserts are so full of life. And that\u2019s just scratching the surface. That\u2019s just talking about Queensland. That\u2019s just my state, you know, and there\u2019s another seven.<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019m sold. For the travel itself, do you have any long flight essentials?<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019ve kind of got this down to a fine art. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. And blue light glasses<\/a> are a must. You sleep so much better.<\/p>\n \n\tOne more thing. Are we allowed to talk about your Bond\u2019s Underwear campaign? The people want to know!<\/p>\n \n\t[Laughs.] Well, that was something else. The interesting thing about that is it ended up relating so much with my cause and my mission in such an unexpected way. <\/p>\n \n\tBonds wanted to do this awesome sort of showcase of Australia, and it\u2019s very similar to what I\u2019m doing with Australia. So I went, \u201call right, that sounds good, but we\u2019ve got to incorporate wildlife.\u201d And the question I get more than anything else is, \u201cWere those actual animals with you? That must\u2019ve been nerve-racking.\u201d And I say, \u201cwell, first of all, yes, those were actual animals. And also that was the most comfortable part of the whole shoot.\u201d Like being in my underpants was less than comfortable. But as soon as I had that snake draped around my shoulders, I\u2019m like, \u201cah, okay!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tI think our environment needs advocates. I want to share a message of hope and positivity and kindness and to continue a legacy that my family and my dad started. And I found that there\u2019s so many different ways I can do that. I always thought I would do that by doing animal documentaries, like my dad did, but I found I can actually reach even more people if I\u2019m doing something out of the ordinary\u2026 Dancing with the Stars or an underpants campaign. I never thought I would be bringing awareness by wearing my Bond\u2019s underpants<\/a> and doing a lot of pushups, but here we are.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd then of course, what I\u2019m doing with Tourism Australia<\/a>. I get to share what I love more than anything else \u2014 my animals and my home \u2014 with you guys in America, who I love so dearly. I feel very lucky to do what I do. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTourism Australia<\/p>\n \n\tCheck out the \u201cCome and say G\u2019day\u201d campaign video and imagery at australia.com<\/a>, and browse the best available flights on Trip Advisor<\/a>. Plus, catch Robert Irwin and partner Witney Carson on Dancing With the Stars each Tuesday at 8 p.m. PT\/ET, starting Sept. 16. Here\u2019s how to stream season 34 online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,65324,75,5023,404],"class_list":{"0":"post-151153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-dancing-with-the-stars","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-noads","14":"tag-shopping"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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