Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak and its effects, it’s been a rollercoaster of a few months for many Australians, including Bindi Irwin.
WATCH: Bindi Irwin addresses public after getting married in coronavirus crisis
Her family’s business, Australia Zoo has taken a battering, but now, there’s finally some good news!
Sharing a photo of herself with mum Terri Irwin and new husband Chandler Powell on Instagram on Wednesday, Bindi revealed that Australia Zoo will open again at the end of the week.
“2020 has certainly been a hurricane. Thank you for your support as we all work hard to reopen Australia Zoo on Friday,” she wrote.
“We’re adapting to create a beautiful experience for everyone. I’m especially grateful for my sweetheart family who remind me daily that anything is possible.”
Australia Zoo wasn’t the only part of Bindi’s life that was affected by coronavirus restrictions. She also had to rush to tie the knot with her 23-year-old wakeboarder beau Chandler when restrictions around wedding guests were announced.
She later took to Instagram to reflect on how the day was far from how she imagined it would be.
The 21-year-old shared a candid photo of herself and Chandler on their big day and confessed it didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to.
“This isn’t the fairytale image capturing the ‘perfect’ wedding day feeling. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. This picture was taken after we had to change our entire wedding,” Bindi captioned.
The wildlife warrior, who began dating Chandler in 2013 after meeting at Australia Zoo, explained that their plans had to change as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but their friends and family encouraged them to get married regardless.
“We decided not to have wedding guests due to the global crisis for everyone’s health and safety. Our family and friends couldn’t be there to celebrate with us. However, they all encouraged us to continue on and get married,” she added.
Thanks to a handful of local businesses, Bindi and Chandler were able to adapt their wedding, but the daughter of the late Steve Irwin said that the original venue had to change because a helicopter flying above scared the wildlife.
The final wedding location ended up being the filming barn where Bindi and the Irwin family worked on projects including Crocodile Hunter and Bindi The Jungle Girl.
“I missed the people who couldn’t be there, my dad, Chandler’s family, our dear friends, my family. Chandler stopped what he was doing and sat next to me. I asked him to list me happy things. He proceeded to remind me that love ALWAYS wins. That’s when this picture was taken,” Bindi said.
