Bindi Irwin Reveals The One Thing She Wishes She Told Her Crocodile Hunter Dad

Though Bindi Irwin's father, Steve Irwin, tragically died after being barbed by a stingray 18 years ago, she still wishes he was around.

“If I had the chance, the one thing I’d say to my dad is, ‘I love you, and I miss you. Every day that you aren’t here is hard. But we hope to be making you proud,’” she shared in a new interview. “I think when there’s love that is that great, it never truly goes away. He’s always with us.”

Fortunately, Bindi, 25, who is married to Chandler Powell, is able to talk about her dad all day with her daughter, Grace, 3, who never got to meet him.

"I’ve always said I want to make sure Grace knows Dad. We have a big photo, and every night, we do our calm-down ritual. Chandler, Grace and I sit under the stars and talk about what we’re grateful for. Then we do story time and say goodnight to Grandpa Crocodile, as she calls him. She started that one night; she goes, 'Goodnight, Grandpa Crocodile,' because he’s feeding a croc in the photo," she revealed.

The animal lover also plays old footage from Steve's popular documentary series, The Crocodile Hunter, for her little one. “As soon as we turn Dad on, she starts doing her imitation, yelling ‘Crikey!’ through the living room," she said. "Being able to show Grace his documentaries is incredibly special. She starts repeating what he says, and she has a plush crocodile that she gets out and puts a satellite tracker on. I cry every single time."

Grace seems to even take after her grandfather.

"She has no fear when it comes to animals. I have a fear of wasps and bugs in general — I’m not scared of them, but I don’t really want a cockroach climbing on my face. She’s obsessed with bugs. Every day she’s like, 'Mama, let’s go look for bugs,'" she shared.

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"She loves tortoises. Every single afternoon, we give her the option [to] go anywhere in the zoo… [It’s] always to the tortoise yard. We pick hibiscus and then go feed them. It’s very sweet," she continued of Grace's life. "She’s going to take over the world. She has so much energy and passion and determination. Whatever she wants to do, she’ll be good at it because she has those Irwin power genetics at play."