When it comes to young celebrity power couples in Australia, no pairing is more one true than 22-year-old Wildlife Warrior Princess Bindi Irwin and her 24-year-old Florida-born beau Chandler Powell.
The pair, who are currently expecting their first child, have been dating in the public eye since 2015. Last year, after COVID-19 ruined their original near-year-long plans to tie the knot, Bindi and Chandler got secretly hitched among their close friends and family at Australia Zoo on April 4. Oddly, they’re much like Bindi’s parents — Chandler came from the United States just like Terri, while Bindi grew up in Australia like her dad. But, it’s the story behind their first fateful first meeting that really plucks at our heartstrings.
When it comes to IRL meet-cutes, other celebrity couples can only marvel at the adorable rom-com saga of Australia’s Wildlife Warrior Princess Bindi Irwin and her beau Chandler Powell’s first meeting. To celebrate the pair’s upcoming baby, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive one of the most romantic stories in Aussie celeb history.
WATCH: Bindi Irwin spends Christmas with boyfriend Chandler Powell
When Did Bindi Irwin And Chandler Powell First Meet?
When Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell first met in 2013, the pair were still teens. Chandler, an American wakeboard champion, was visiting Australia for a competition when he decided to spend one of his days off checking out the Australia Zoo.
“I’d grown up watching Steve and Terri’s documentaries on TV,” he later told The Australian Women’s Weekly. “I’ve had my khakis from about four years old.”
Once there, he decided to go on a private tour, and, by the hands of the fate gods, his tour guide happened to be none other than Bindi Irwin. The pair clicked instantly. When Bindi saw Chandler cuddling a koala, she knew: he passed the vibe check and she was falling HARD.
“We could talk for ages right from the get-go,” Chandler recalled. “It was as though we’d known each for years.”
WATCH: Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell’s love story
There are times in our lives where we meet someone and gel right away, but they are rare. For Bindi and Chandler, it’s just the early beginnings of their rom-com romance. Chandler soon found himself back in his home in Seffner, Florida, asking Terri if he could write to her then 15-year-old daughter.
Cut to two years later in 2015 when the pair made their relationship public. Separated by thousands of miles and sea, they began to slowly develop their budding romance as a long-distance relationship.
“Why rush it?” Bindi said at the time. “We have all of our lives ahead to enjoy the ride.”
Then Chandler moved to Australia and started working at the zoo. The pair were young and in love, and in awe that this was really happening. As Bindi puts it best, “We were lucky to have found each other.”
WATCH: Rob Irwin shares cheeky update on pregnant Bindi
According to Now To Love, after Chandler proposed to Bindi in 2019, the pair went out to the bush to release a rehabilitated Koala back into the wild. That moment, Bindi says, was a reminder of that fateful day she met the man who was to be her husband.
“Every day when I wake up, I feel I have to pinch myself because I am living my dream,” Chandler admitted. “I get to do what I love with the person I love, continuing the work that Steve and Terri started.”
“I’m so glad that I found my soulmate so early in life,” added Bindi.
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