The afterparty

Finally time to leave the stadium, the happy hunting ground. I've been a lazytraveller for most of my time in Singa so far, and I confess to not being a huge lover of public transport. But the stadium train station is pretty cool, see below. I took this photo a couple of days later, so you'll have to imagine the sea of gold that congregated and the strains of a capella 'Waltzing Matilda' echoing while we waited for the train.

We're starving, and we've got a table booked at Jumbo Seafood in Clarke Quay. It was recommended by three different people, and it's full of Singaporeans, a good sign. The girls are keen for the chilli crab, Singaporean speciality, which requires wearing an obligatory idiotic bib (sorry girls).

I've tried to like seafood at various times throughout my life, but you just can't put a square peg in a round hole. The crab tastes OK, but, meh. I'm not converted and never will be. Childhood fishing trips with Dad ruined me. However, the Singapore Slings are sensational, and at $8.50 they're good value compared to other places (could buy 4 here for the price of one at the famous Raffles Hotel).

After dinner and some scouting to find out where the afterparty is, we head back to the hotel to pop the Veuve Cliquot. Hell, we are practically running. Mel does the honours, and a couple of drinks later, a quick change (but leaving on the now lucky #blingiton tshirts and necklaces) and we're off to find the Pump Room bar in Clarke Quay. Turns out to be about 100 metres from our hotel, score!

A couple of the fellow freak forumers are in there already, but we're bounced from the front door as 'there's a private party'. The guy tells us we can come in in half an hour, so we take up position at the outdoor tables at the pub right next door, next to the English team. They're not looking quite so glum about their brown medals now.

RSI soon joins us, and after waiting it out with a drink we move into the Pump Room, joining Lurch, Netball Tragic, rossie, Guz+daughter, and a host of merry aussie supporters.

Players from Northern Ireland, South Africa, Wales, Trinidad and Tobago are there letting down their hair. The cover band is pumping out favourites, they're an eclectic mix and they're fantastic! Crowd going off, dancing, singing, loving every minute. Rossie, RSI, Vin, Mel and I take our turn to have a dance up on the stage/podium to 'It's raining men' sung expertly by the drag queen lead singer. Gold!

Sea breezes, mojitos, vodka cranberries, cocktails are the drink of the night (wine is super expensive here). At about 1.00am the aussie team suddenly appears and the dancefloor goes off even more. The girls take over the podium and it's a danceathon/drinkathon/on-top-of-the-world-athon for the next couple of hours. The family and friends of the girls have been at the Singapore Cricket Club for a private function, apart from some of the aussie swim team who got a gig (TAJ's photo with Skippy a highlight!)

BOD (Best On Dancefloor) would have to go to the big fish, but they all give it a good nudge! Unbridled excitement, outpouring of joy and elation! A well deserved celebration, and they're ecstatic to share it with everyone. A wild dance with Mon leaves Vin with a taste of what Temepara George must feel like the next day!

Those who finished 8th party just as hard! The Northern Ireland girls are a little disappointed to have "gone out on a low". They lost the match against South Africa by 5 which would have put them into the 5th v 6th playoff, and then ultimately lost the 7th v 8th playoff to T&T by 18. But how well have they done to jump up the rankings to 8th. While the top teams are a cut above the rest, it has been so entertaining to see the lower ranked teams play each other, and I'm not the only one congratulating the NI, T&T and Welsh girls.

While the band has a rest, Beyonces' song "Who won the world? Girls!" comes over the speakers. We sing it to the Diamonds, a fitting anthem. I crawl into bed just before 3.30am and Lurch informs me the Pump Room shut up shop at 3.30, and some of the girls were heading over to the casino. Play hard, party hard. Go get 'em girls!

The aftermath

Jubilation! None of us can remember what happened in that final minute and a half, it's a blur of players scrambling, fans on their feet, deafening noise, green, gold and black. The jumps of joy and wild hugs of the aussie girls confirm the result, and they end up in a stacks on the mill on the floor. Mel, Vin and I nearly cause our own stacks on the mill with an unhinged celebratory hug/dance.

After I finish hugging the stranger next to me we stand on our seats and pump our fists, wave the #blingiton sign, clap til our hands hurt and scream with what little voice we have left.

Cannot believe we won. Cannot believe it!

It was a whisker away from kiwi victory. Feel very sorry for the Silver Ferns, they are shattered, as dejected and emotional as the Diamonds were after the Commonwealth Games last year. After that game, some parts of the NZ media and even some ex-silver ferns took great joy in commenting on the faces of the aussie girls, one even going so far as to say that the only thing better than the victory was seeing the devastation on Sharelle McMahon's face.

There'll be none of that here. I feel for the kiwis who have put their heart and soul into that game, and for their supporters who will mourn the loss for a long time. We remember the feeling well and it hurts.

It's heart-warming to see both teams shake hands, some even embrace, and they end with the traditional huddle of both teams. Great sports(wo)manship. Aitken and Williams have the awful task of being interviewed by the media afterwards and they are doing really well to hold it together. We're close to the tunnel that the kiwis exit to momentarily before the medal presentation. The aussie crowd gives them a heartfelt ovation.

Nat Medhurst is announced player of the match which surprises many, including Nat, I think. She looks reluctant to accept the medal but eventually does. I would have given it to Corletto, but without Medders' great contribution we wouldn't have won and she's had a brilliant tournament.

The court announcer is attempting to call NVB over for an interview but Nat either can't hear through the crowd's version of 'Land Down Under' or she doesn't want to leave her team's side. After 4 attempts they finally get her over for a quick speech, none of which I can remember except how proud she is of the team. The medal dias is brought in and set up and finally it's time for the medal ceremony. Most of the crowd have remained, credit to the kiwis who probably want to run screaming from the stadium.

England first to the receive the bronze medals. NZ next up, most taking their place on the dias with grace and poise, except one who rolls her eyes and claps sarcastically as her name is called, perhaps frustrated that she didn't get any court time in the final, or perhaps just trying to diffuse the situation.

Finally it's time for the aussies, wild cheers again for the physio. We shout the national anthem for the second time today and soak up the moment. Tears. The court announcer asks the crowd, rather un-PC like, at the end of the anthem "Who won?" "AUSTRALIA!" "Who won?" "AUSTRALIA!"

And finally the world championship trophy. An almighty shower of gold confetti as the team and staff surround NVB. The pop of the confetti scares the bejeezus out of Casey Williams, and understandably the kiwis can't get out of there quick enough.


Queen's 'We are the Champions' reverberates around the stadium as the aussies take their long victory lap with the trophy, thanking each section of the crowd and stopping for endless photos. The team hangs around for ages afterward, signing autographs, having photos with fans, doing interviews, and lapping it all up. We soak it all in until things start to wrap up and it's time to seize a photo opportunity with Shazza.

As we arrive over the other side of the stadium to see her, a lady I was chatting to yesterday comes over and asks if we still have our face masks. She says "this is Sharelle's husband and he wants to have a photo with you guys". We all crack up and get the face masks ready. I assure him "we're not really crazy, we just love her", "well, you'd understand" Vin adds. Laughter all round. He asks how many shirts we had made as he has "seen them everywhere". We pose for photos (both his and our camera) and then we head down to join the line for a photo with Shaz.


We wait patiently for a little while, but then Brek comes down and calls out "Shaz", she starts to head over and he says "the girls who made the tshirts and masks are here". "Oh God" she groans jokingly (well, it appeared to be jokingly!) "Don't be scared" I tell her. She comes over and we have a big hug and I say quietly "Oh Shaz, we wish you were out there." She gives me a great hug and says a heartfelt thankyou. Her voice sounds a little sad. She's putting on a brave face, and being such a team-oriented person there's no doubt she's delighted for the team, but she must be shattered to have missed out.

She quickly peps up and we discuss the photo requirements - a normal one without masks, one with masks, and one with our backs to the camera while she faces it, showing the "Shazza... wish u were here" message on the back. We wait while she goes and grabs her own camera cos she wants a copy too, and when we turn our backs she asks what she should do. "Whatever you like" Vin says, and we see later that she's hammed it up with a sad pose. She's an absolute champion in every way. I just hope we see her in the green and gold again. Love ya Shaz!

The ecstasy

Quick break between the end of full-time and the start of extra-time. Here we go again, 7 minutes of extra-time, then play stops to swap ends, and another 7 minutes of extra-time. If they're still tied after that, play continues on immediately until a team is ahead by 2 goals. This is what happened at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi (also in Manchester in 2002 coincidentally), and the game went on for a record amount of time, about 3 days.

Noone can believe it, but yet we have come to expect it between these two teams. Another 14 minutes at least, how excruciating! I'm trying to get a feel for who has the momentum, it feels slightly like the aussies do because they clawed back to put themselves in a winning position in the final seconds, but has that missed goal dented their confidence? NZ can score quickly, there's no telling what could happen. Only one change - Scarlett is on for de Bruin. Norma has stuck with our lineup, I completely agree!

NZ centre pass. They've turned it over! Momentum must be with us! Hands are all over the ball from both teams, total desperation. Ball is in the aussie circle, Williams loses her shoe. Everyone on edge while she puts it back on. Double-knot it, Casey! C-Bass is the first to score, the aussies are up our end of the court. Aussies up by 1 with the centre pass to follow.

Scarlett gets into the game quickly with a nice intercept on a last second lob attempt by Pitman. Is she the fresh change NZ need? Tuti levels the scores, kiwi centre pass. The aussies are pouring the pressure on at the centre pass, it's so close to a held ball and Williams only just holds onto a desperate pass by leaning on the ball in the goal third. Corletto knocks over van Dyk and now van Dyk has lost her shoe, what's going on with the shoes?! NZ up by 1.

Medhurst levels, Glitz gives away a cheap penalty, NZ by 1 again. Pitman called for breaking at the centre pass, heart sinks. But van Dyk fumbles a straight forward pass over the sideline and C-Bass takes another strong grab to level the scores. Three minutes left before the change of ends.

An easy goal both ways. Excellent aussie defence on the centre pass again, Langman forced to 2.99999999 seconds and again Williams takes a desperate pass under huge pressure. The screech of "HELD" reverberates around the stadium. NZ hang on to score with Glitz out of play - tidy up Glitzy! NZ up by 1 with 1.5 minutes left before change of ends.

Another goal each, ball bounces errantly out of court before aussie centre pass, Mon is scrambling to get it back quickly. NVB has the presence of mind to wait until Mon re-enters the court before she takes the centre pass.

How any of them have presence of mind in this situation is beyond me! We can't hear ourselves think and we can see that the players can't hear each other. They're screaming at each other but the player taking the pass isn't turning towards the screamer, the crowd is drowning them out. They're resorting to clapping at each other, waving arms madly. Each player is having to look at first, second, third passing option to make sure.

There's less than a minute til change of ends. NVB gets the centre pass away, but soon Williams deflects the ball over the sideline and it lands under the media table. Must get the ball out from under the table, hurry up lady, HURRY UP!! I want to go and get it myself! Burgess is telling Henry to stay out of the circle, not for the first time in the match. Advance the penalty, Gary! She's wasting precious time! Medhurst sends the ball in to C-Bass who takes it at full stretch on her non-preferred side, how nimble! She shoots from halfway. Oh god. Sinks it!! Breathe.

There can't be much time for NZ to score, and if we hold them up until the 7 minute mark it will as good as a turn-over because time will stop and they'll change ends, and it will be an aussie centre pass! "HOLD IT UP, HOLD IT UP" we're begging. Again Langman has to use nearly 3 seconds, how much time left? No idea! NZ are having to pass back and forth in the centre third, the aussie defence is throwing it all at them.

NVB gives away the netball equivalent of a professional foul - a deliberate obstruction in the goal third to hold up play and steal a few seconds. The lob will go into van Dyk in a second... but before Langman gets it away Beans blows the whistle to signal the end of the first 7 minutes over-time! Aus have stopped them from scoring and we have the centre pass! Crowd is wild!!!

Photos by Gallo Images and Suhaimi Abdullah / Getty Images AsiaPac

Scores level, players immediately swap ends and set themselves for the aussie centre pass. NZ shooting up our end now. Another well-weighted lob into C-Bass and we're up by 1. NZ equalize easily. A poor lob into C-Bass is intercepted by Scarlett, it's a carbon copy of the start of the last 7 minutes! But NZ are tentative in the goal third, Tuti looks buggered and doesn't follow through on a lead as strongly as Corletto who comes through and manages to snatch an intercept. Medhurst scores and she fires up, clapping and screaming to her teammates.

Tuti offloads to van Dyk, who scores. They're not taking chances with long shots. Medhurst is forced to take a long shot up the other end and it bounces cruelly out of the ring, Williams takes a strong rebound. Tuti gets the ball in her normal shooting range and for once doesn't have Corletto right on her hammer, but she's uncomfortable and passes back out.

"SHOOT IT" the kiwis are imploring. Glitz penalised again, Tuti gets a second chance and goes for it, sinks a great long shot. NZ up by 1 with centre pass to follow, 4.5 minutes to go. Another penalty shot to Tuti and she gets it. She's back in it. NZ by 2. Not much time left. Gotta make a move now.

C-Bass misses a long shot, now we're looking shaky. But it's our throw-in, Medhurst drains a penalty from Scarlett and pots an easy one under the post. Thank God! Cowbell girl in the crowd makes an attempt but we're having none of it, everyone is far too nervous and stressed to move, except for involuntary jerky arm movements as we ride each pass.

NZ are moving the ball carefully around their goal third, but a little too carefully, finally the held ball call we have been waiting for! The ball bounces over to the aussie bench and Norma springs to her feet and rips it back over - nice touch, Plum! The bench players are bouncing up and down uncontrollably.

Looking down court from our seats, the kiwis seem to take up the whole court with long arms and legs, I don't know how the aussies can see past them. They're playing it back and forth, back and forth, until Medhurst sends a pinpoint long lob into C-Bass and thankfully she stands strong and picks up a penalty from Scarlett. BIG PHEW! Great call Beans! Scores are level!! 2.5 minutes left! Aussie centre pass!

Medhurst takes a difficult shot under all sorts of pressure from Scarlett, flirts with 3 seconds and just drains it. Kiwis scream "HELD"! Everyone else just screams. Seems like the first time in ages we have hit the front, is this it? Can we hang on? It's too early! Still 1 minute 45 seconds left! Not much time, but still a lot.

Great full court pressure from aussies, but Glitz is out of play outside the circle. Tuti shoots but misses. Van Dyk pulls in the rebound by her fingernails, in the middle of an aussie sandwich. Crowd suddenly quiet, holding breath collectively while van Dyk shoots... and scores. Scores level, just over a minute left, aussie centre pass. Must score.

Aussies work the ball down to the circle edge, and suddenly NVB unbelieveably sends a lob high out of court. She is human after all! Kiwi throw-in. Oh. My. God. Must turn it over now or it's all over.

The ball moves down court more quickly for NZ than in previous plays, and it's in Tuti's hands. Less than a metre from the edge of the circle. It's a long shot, but this is Tuti's bread and butter. Can't believe this is happening, it's the Commonwealth Games all over again. She won it for them last year, she's going to win it for them again. Stomach is in my ankles. Hands at my cheeks. There's no way she'll miss.

She misses.

Ball bounces back towards her and Glitz throws her entire body sideways at it, suddenly it's whizzing down court to NVB. That didn't just happen!!!!? There can only be seconds left, scores are level! I hate that the clock stops at 1 minute, stupid clock, giving me nothing! How are we going to get it down there? Bodies are flying everywhere.

It's at our circle edge, but there's a penalty against Langman. QUICK. Medhurst has it. It's a long shot from more than halfway, similar spot to Tuti's. Somehow she has offloaded it over the giant arms of Williams and Scarlett. C-Bass pulls it in. Scarlett is penalised for her attempt at intercepting it. I CAN'T SEE. I CAN'T SEE. The whole crowd is on its feet. C-Bass is right under the post. Take your time with the penalty shot, C-Bass. You have all the time in the world. I can't watch, but I can't take my eyes off her.

I can't see whether it goes through. The reaction of the crowd and the aussie players tells me. Beans has his arm up, signalling time.

It's over.

Photos by Chris McGrath / Getty Images AsiaPac; Gallo Images / Getty Images AsiaPac; www.australiannetballdiamonds.com.au

Part Two - The agony and the agony

Photos by Sahaimi Abdullah / Getty Images AsiaPac

THIRD QUARTER

Slightly less enthusiastic dancing at half-time. It's clear we're not going to win with the way the attack line is playing. I'm hoping Norma puts her faith in Caitlin Bassett (C-Bass) at GS, Coxy off. Norma hears me, and she also replaces Fuhrmannator with the blonde bombshell Laura Geitz (Glitz) at GK.

NZ has the first centre of the third quarter and they convert the goal which puts them up by 7. This isn't a huge lead in netball, all it takes is 3 turnovers, convert your own 3 centre passes, and you're back within range. However, against the Silver Ferns it's a worry, and NZ don't seem to have made a huge amount of mistakes. They're in the box seat and we seem to just be chasing. C-Bass sinks her first shot to settle the nerves. Hers and mine.

I'm thinking the aussies will have to chip away at that 7 goal lead over the next two quarters. But suddenly NZ make a series of horrible mistakes over the course of five minutes! They become hesitant at their centre pass and send the ball flying out of court, van Dyk misses a shot and Glitz rebounds, NVB puts George under huge pressure and she can't haul in a ball close to the sideline.

The aussie crowd is holding its' breath every time the ball heads into our circle, but C-Bass is standing strong, pulling in every ball strongly, sinking everything. She's got the kiwi defence at a loss as to how to organise themselves. Unbelieveably after five minutes, we're back within 1!!! Predictably NZ calls a fake injury time-out to stop the brilliant run of the aussies. The aussie crowd is back on its' feet, going wild. Kiwi fans are silent in their seats. Amazing the difference five minutes can make in sport.

After the timeout the aussies turn it over, but they're totally committed on defence and Gerrard comes up with another inspirational intercept. She's making George work her arse off every time they are anywhere near the ball. C-Bass levels the score at the 10 minute mark. NZ haven't scored for more than 5 minutes! The scoring is even over the next little while, and our attack has found rythym and confidence. Finally we hit the front with about 6 minutes to go, aussie crowd on its' feet. But shortly after Baked Beans misses an obvious penalty on Pitman and NZ end up with a turnover to regain the lead.

For the next five minutes it's level pegging, we level, they nose ahead by 1. Tuti has finally found her radar and sinking her shots. Pitman has really come into the game and C-Bass is dominating de Bruin. Medhurst shoots a goal right on the three quarter time whistle, looks like it is through the ring in time but not according to Burgess, the goal is disallowed and the kiwis are up by 1. Brilliant fight-back by the aussies in the premiership quarter. Just need to get in front now...

FOURTH QUARTER

Williams is hobbling around but there's no way NZ will take her off. No Williams, no NZ. I'm thinking they'll switch her to GK seeing as C-Bass has had such an impact, and also seeing as she's not looking fully fit. But Ruth Aitken sticks with her lineup and so does Norma. The water polo guys have been leading the Aussie Aussie Aussie chant, and one of the photographers takes our photo with the sign. How are we going to cope with this last 15 minutes. Torture!

First 3 goals run with the centre passes, NZ up by 2. Then Williams clearly knocks a ball out of court and Baked Beans awards the kiwis the throw in. Aussies booing hysterically. Our defence is stifling, NZ edges down court, only to go back. Their timing is completely out, they're holding the ball precariously close to 3 seconds, no options in the circle, Corletto and Glitz have it covered. The aussie crowd is imploring Burgess to call a held ball. NZ has had the ball for 1.5 minutes, a long time without scoring.

Finally a penalty gives George a clear lob into van Dyk but she uses her elbows to push Glitz off and Burgess is having none of it - penalty pass awarded to Glitz. Crowd goes wild! Down the other end Bassett passes off to Medhurst when she wasn't expecting it and it's a kiwi throw in. Never mind the obstruction call that Baked Beans missed on Williams. Kiwis score and they're up by 3 with the centre pass to follow.

Trouble brewing for the aussies. But Tuti has missed another shot and Glitz drags in the rebound like her life depends on it! Henry takes a beautiful intercept in the midcourt but Burgess robs her of it and awards a penalty to Pitman - makes up for the obstruction BB missed in the last passage of play. Kiwis' turn to boo wildly.

We score and the goals go back to running with the centre passes until a poor pass by Medhurst results in a Williams intercept and the kiwis are up by 3 again. Corletto responds with a brilliant tip that she follows up herself and sends it back down court. Every pass is edge-of-the-seat stuff, Pitman pulls in a wild cross-court rainmaker, Williams gets a hand on it in the aussie circle, de Bruin narrowly misses an intercept from the throw-in, but the aussies hold their nerve to score. Medhurst follows this up with some strong work on the next centre pass and we're within 1 with 6 minutes to go.

Goals running with centres again, Tuti still not convincing but lands one, long shot by Bassett is heart-attack inducing but sinks, van Dyk loses Glitz to receive alone under the post, Bassett takes a Medhurst offload strongly. Whose nerve is going to break now? Glitz manoeuvres van Dyk under the ball and picks up the crumbs, and good patient work from Medhurst and repositioning by C-Bass results in a goal - scores level with 4 minutes to go! Aussie centre pass!

C-Bass left under the post and she puts us up by 1, crowd on its' feet again. Kiwis level. Medhurst misses a long shot, van Dyk scores. Kiwis back in front with 2 minutes remaining, and centre pass to follow. "BREAK IT" we are screaming! Both aussie defenders are out of play a metre away from the post. Heart sinks. Tuti lines up for the shot... and unbelieveably misses! van Dyk rebounds, looks like she has leant on the post which should be an aussie free pass but it doesn't come - kiwis by 2! Booing!

Great view of the clock from our seats - 1 minute 15 seconds left, there's not enough time, there's not enough time!!! Someone needs to cover themselves in glory here!

Aussies are rushing it back for the centre pass, need to take a risk with a quick lob into C-Bass, she misses it but it's an obstruction penalty - 1 goal the difference! Less than a minute to go! The clock stops at 1 minute remaining so we don't know how much time is left. Unless we break the kiwi centre it's all over...

Williams holds the ball up near the transverse line, Medhurst stands her ground in front of her, Williams steps in to pass, somehow Medhurst ends up with the ball in her hands - unbelieveable!!! Did that really just happen?! Gotta score quick, gotta score quick! de Bruin intercept! It's all happening! Confusion over where the throw-in should be, wasting time, hurry up! NVB finally takes the throw-in, C-Bass just hangs onto the ball, pots it, SCORES LEVEL!!! NO IDEA HOW MUCH TIME LEFT!!! Surely only a few seconds, we can win this if we're quick enough!

Quick centre pass, predictable long bomb into C-Bass, she beats de Bruin and Williams to it and steps in closer, can't see, can't see, has she got it? It's missed!!! Is there a penalty??? Full time called by BB, is there a penalty, is there a penalty??!!! NO!!! SCORES LEVEL AT FULL-TIME!!!! We're going into extra-time!

Deja vu! Why does this keep happening between these two teams, girls, you've gotta stop doing this to us!!!

Part One - The agony and the agony

Photos by Sahaimi Abdullah / Getty Images AsiaPac

The umpires are Gary Burgess from England and Dalton Hines from Jamaica. Years ago the powers-that-be decided that 'neutral' umpires are required in every international match. As a result, Australian and NZ umpires never get to umpire international matches between Australia and NZ.

The problem with this is that the rest of the world are generally daylight behind many of the aussie umpires and some (well, one) of the kiwi umpires. Burgess is a good umpire, but Baked Beans is, hmmm, unpredictable, inconsistent. Worse still, the reserve umpire is Annie Kloppers from South Africa. Let's hope noone locks Gary Burgess in the toilets before the game starts.

Norma Plummer has opted for the same starting lineup as the semi final. For posterity, here it is:
GK - Susan Fuhrmann
GD - Julie Corletto
WD - Mo'onia Gerrard
C - Natalie von Bertouch
WA - Kim Green
GA - Natalie Medhurst
GS - Catherine Cox

Ruth Aitken, kiwi coach has made a change to her usual starting lineup against Australia at GK:
GK - Liana de Bruin
GD - Casey Williams
WD - Joline Henry
C - Laura Langman
WA - Temepara George
GA - Maria Tutaia (Tuti Fruiti)
GS - Irene van Dyk

FIRST QUARTER

Crowd is at fever pitch. Nervous anticipation in the air. The players take their positions. And from the first whistle it's on. We hold up our end of the bargain by successfully drowning out any errant "let's go kiwi, let's go" chants that start up. The aussie goal is up our end for the first quarter. It's not a great start by the aussies, a couple of turnovers and we're down 2-5 after a few minutes. Attack isn't settled but our defence is keeping us in it. Gerrard takes an inspirational mark going back with the flight of the ball just as NZ are about to push out to an early 4 goal lead. After 9 minutes we've only scored 4 goals.

Luckily NZ aren't capitalising or moving the ball as efficiently as they can. Finally Coxy's long bombs start to sink with 5 minutes remaining in the first quarter, and we've pegged the lead back to 2. She misses a chance to draw even with 2 minutes to go. Up the other end Tuti Fruiti isn't looking comfortable with her shooting, she's missed a few but you know that won't last long.

We finally draw level with 1 minute to go. The aussie fan who brought the cowbell along is working overtime - she bangs a tune, the aussie crowd repeats it with claps. The Fuhrmannator rejects one of van Dyk's shots but Burgess robs her with a penalty in the last few seconds. He's doing a nice job keeping Henry, Langman and Williams under control though. Suddenly it's quarter time and NZ have managed to edge away again. Score 10-12 NZ's way. The kiwis are loving it and we're a little worried, but it's close, as it always is.

SECOND QUARTER

Norma makes an unexpected change at quarter time and drags Green for Chelsea Pitman at WA. I thought Green had been doing alright. We weren't settled yet in attack but she was doing OK. However, Pitman was great in the recent series of test matches so I'm not unhappy. Unfortunately her first pass is straight into the hands of Williams, and after two minutes in the second quarter we're down by 5. Then she cops a Baked Beans special - totally random contact call against her. He always throws in a few randoms each game just to keep everyone on their toes.

Tuti Fruiti misses 3 out of 4 of her shots, Corletto is doing a brilliant job at putting her under pressure. What we would have given to have had a fully fit Corletto in that Commonwealth Games gold medal match last year... She's come back from a potentially career-ending knee injury and revolutionary surgery (patella realignment) 18 months ago, and she's out there carving it up. She's amazing to watch in full flight. Tuti has started passing off what she'd normally shoot.

It's a bit of a scrappy, see-sawing contest. All of a sudden captain courageous Nat von Bertouch comes up with two brilliant round-the-body tips on the ball into our defenders hands and we get a run of 4 goals. Coxy misses a chance to get within 1 goal, and NZ edge out again.

Williams calls a two minute injury time-out just before the ten minute mark. I notice the time, because in each of the games I've seen NZ play recently, in just about every game they have called time with five minutes remaining in a quarter. Williams is limping and has her calf strapped, but it's tactical. They've been training for this break. The crowd is up and dancing during the break and the aussie supporters have come back to life after NVB's turnovers. We dance and get the sign up while the cameras are going past.

The time-out works for NZ, as a messy bit of play between our shooters ends up in kiwi hands and suddenly they're up by 5 again. The Fuhrmannator has done a good job on van Dyk up until now, but VD is on top now, and dominating the NZ circle. We're struggling at the centre pass, Pitman can't find space and the leads aren't well timed. What to do? Should they make another change at WA and bring on Erin Bell, third time lucky? Or back to Green? Or stick it out and allow Pitman more time to work into the game? Who'd be a coach!

Another mistake comes from hesitancy in the forward line, and NZ are now up by 6. Warning bells sounding. Kiwi fans going off. Kiwi players high-fiving each other as they walk off court at half time. We're deflated, and I'm thinking my pre-game sense of calm and winning feeling was denial/bravado/wishful thinking...

Calm before the storm

We ran out of duty-free booze yesterday at the semis, which is probably a good thing cos I'm feeling slightly queazy with nerves. I don't know how the players and coaches cope! With the main game looming, I go for a little walk and bathroom break.

As bad as the nerves are I'd rather be here than watching at home. At home you feel completely powerless, you're at the whim of the cameraman and the television network. When you're at a game you can see the whole court, work out quicker what the umpire has called, participate in some small way (scream lungs out).

Today there isn't as much banter between the aussie and kiwi fans. I've had some funny conversations with kiwis on the train, in the line for the toilets, through the streets of Singa etc. We've been wishing each other good luck (but not too much!) over the past couple of days, but not today! Everyone is on edge.

The kiwis come out first for their warm up, and when the aussies come out it becomes clear that there is more crowd support for the aussies. The stands are a sea of gold interspersed kiwi sections dressed in black. We are in the last row of our section, which works out well, as the #blingiton sign won't block the view of anyone behind us. The section behind us seems to be general Singaporean public, apart from one very conspicuous row of good looking athletic men in matching aussie tshirts.

What is this mirage in the desert, we ask? We take guesses and settle on them being water polo players, and later we find out we were right! The Aussie Sharks (mens team) and Aussie Stingers (womens team) have their world championships in Shanghai next week and have come to Singa for a training camp. The womens team are playing a practice game that day, but the men had time to watch the Diamonds. Mel pretends to take a photo of Vin, but is really zooming in on the Sharks for a stealth photo. When we download the photo later we have a closer look and see that some of the boys have spotted Mel's poor disguise and are pointing and laughing.

The warm up songs are played for both teams. First up the very catchy kiwi "Poi E" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQLUygS0IAQ) The kiwi sections are in full voice, and the song is so bloody catchy it gets stuck in my head. Soon it's our turn. The lilting opening sound of the musical beer bottles from Land Down Under by Men at Work (www.youtube.com/watch?v=McsWKczU6wc) lights up the aussies.

This is no time for cultural cringe. Sure, every time we've chanted Oi Oi Oi over the last couple of days we may have died a little inside, but today we need to be in full voice to get our girls over the line. Ahh who am I kidding, I love it!

Embracing inner bogans, we join the chorus and sing such gems as "he just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich", "where beer does flow and men chunder", and our favourite "you better run, you better take cover (yeaaah)" Champagne 80s aussie music! Followed up by the crowd's a capella version of Waltzing Matilda (first verse only). Blingiton sign is in full flight. We turn the sign around to the Singaporean crowd in the upper bays behind us and give them a rev up to get them on side. Excitement at fever pitch!

As the players begin to congregate near their benches to be introduced on court for the national anthems, a strange feeling of calm comes over me. It's weird, I can't explain it, I'm always nervous before watching Australia v New Zealand. On paper, New Zealand have all the experience and the combinations. They go into this favourites. But somehow I have this feeling that today is our day.

I never have this feeling! Perhaps I'm just trying to delude myself so that I'm not carried out of here with heart attack symptoms. Maybe it's endorphins and adrenaline from singing and waving the sign about. Considering I was nervous as hell about 10 minutes ago, this is very odd! I write it off as denial about the heart-attack-inducing struggle that I expect is about to take place.

If you're superstitious, you look for signs that your team is going to win. Apparently there's a greyhound called Bling It On that raced on Thursday and was running second for three quarters of the race, but went on to finish strongly and win it. There's our lucky tshirts, lucky sign, lucky diamond necklaces (they haven't lost whilst we've been wearing them!) There's the recent match result history between the two teams - for the last eight matches the winner has alternated Aus, NZ, Aus, NZ, Aus, NZ, Aus, NZ... it's our turn!

The players are called out on court, kiwis first, aussies second. We cheer loudly for every aussie, even the team physio. Lining up for the national anthems. Kiwis first again. The NZ anthem is so long I debate whether I have time to go get a beer. Just kidding. Respectfully stand to attention and listen. It's another one of those catchy songs, often gets stuck in my head for days after watching an Aus v NZ test match.

Finally time for ours. The huge aussie contingent sing, no, shout the anthem and it's pandemonium at the end, huge roar from the crowd as the players begin to assemble for the match. Here we go!!!

Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah / Getty Images AsiaPac

The brown medal

The gold medal match is at 4.45pm, with the bronze at 2.30pm, and I've written the day off due to nerves. I feel a bit guilty for neglecting poor old Singapore, especially as Mel and Vin have been racking up sightseeing points, but I came here for netball first and foremost, and vow to make it up to Singa from tomorrow.

I spend the morning pottering around and overeating at the buffet breakfast (again). The breakfast crowd is a sea of green and gold and the hotel manager is on the aussie bandwagon, high-fiving me as I head back to my room.

Photos of us holding the #blingiton sign are all over the internet, including one on the Diamonds' home page - it's tagged 'Our AMAZING fans... we love you guys!' The sign appeared in the background of Nat von Bertouch's post-match interview last night. Glad I carted that $1.56 Big W cardboard half way around the world! The #blingiton hashtag is all over Twitter, the Aussie Diamonds and lots of others are tweeting it. Loving that!

Photos from www.australiannetballdiamonds.com.au and from footage on One HD

I want to get there early today to try and catch the playoffs for 5th-8th places, but I run out of time and end up grabbing a taxi to arrive just after South Africa has claimed 5th place over Malawi. Taxis are cheap here compared to back home, and less faffing about when you have a big arse camera, sign, Shazza face masks etc to lug around. Lucky today is the final day cos my Bling It On tshirt is on its' last legs.. a pommy wash is the best I can do until I send it off to the laundry tomorrow.

My nerves are surprisingly not too bad until I arrive at the stadium, but even then I'm not as bad as usual. Our seats are allocated today and we're behind one of the goalposts in the 12th row. Not as good as yesterday, but not bad, and hey, I'M AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS FINAL. Same as the footy, I'd rather be half way so you have a clear view of the whole court, but sitting behind a goal post gives you a great perspective on the tactical setups and you see a lot more of the antics that go on in the shooting circle when the play is up your end. (Pity you can't see much up the other end.)

Not long after I settle in, an old netball teammate appears from nowhere. I haven't seen her for about 7 years, and she's been in Hong Kong the last 4 and has headed over for a holiday at the netball. Then I spot another netball gal from home and head down for a chat. Turns out my son's year 6 buddy (when he was in kindy) is also here with her family. It's a small world when netball tragics congregate in one place! The chats are good for calming the nerves. I head back to my seat in time for the national anthems of England and Jamaica prior to the bronze medal match.

The poms next to us have face masks of the Queen and Prince Phillip and they belt out a rousing rendition of God Save the Queen. We give them a big ovation. My money is on England, but for whoever wins, it will be a bit of a hollow victory after their disappointing performances last night. I'm not barracking for either, just hoping for a good contest. Which unfortunately doesn't come.

Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images AsiaPac





Jamaica are just as insipid as last night, and England look polished and in control the whole way. Thankfully Romelda Aiken isn't subjected to GA today, and her coach opts for the more effective option of speedy GA, with Romelda at GS. Unfortunately their defence is very lacking and England edge out to an early lead, then blow them away in the third quarter, and eventually roll them 70-49.

The english girls look pleased to have not lost. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games I was there to see the poms and jammies play an absolutely cracking bronze medal match that went right down to the wire, with England winning by a goal in the dying stages. The poms were over the moon with that result at the time. They looked happier to have won the bronze than Australia did that day to have lost to New Zealand for silver.

Today the poms are relieved, but not excited with their brown medal. They were expecting to do better, and time is starting to run out for them to push for a gold medal, with one of their key defensive pair getting on in years (Sonia Mkoloma). Mkoloma is interviewed after the game and after announcing that their captain Karen Atkinson is retiring, she breaks down in tears while discussing her own future. She hasn't decided yet whether she'll continue on internationally.

The jammies are a hot mess and need someone to pull the team together quick smart. Jill McIntosh, ex coach of Australia, has been working closely with them for the past couple of years, but they're struggling. Granted they were without Simone Forbes and one of their key circle defenders, Kasey Evering, but they've got some serious work to do to get themselves back on track.

One of the clever stats nerds on www.netballonline.info/index.php has devised a calculation which predicts the result of the gold medal match (thanks Corry):

* Australia beat Jamaica in the semi by 36

* England have just beaten Jamaica by 21

therefore Australia are better than England by 36-21=15 goals

* New Zealand beat England in the semi by 15 goals...

Therefore the result of the gold medal match will be... overtime!

And we're through

One last #blingiton tshirt drop-off to go. Great to meet coffeecup and TAJ before the semi starts.

I have it on good authority that Norma Plummer, Australian coach, wasn't concerned by last nights poor performance against Malawi. The lack of flow was to be expected, given Malawi's scrappy keepings-off style. Norma is apparently completely confident and raring to go against Jamaica. Reassuring to hear!

Back to our awesome seats. People are handing out gold wigs, aussie flag tattoos, it's a carnival atmosphere. The court announcer is doing a great job getting the crowd revved up, we're dancing, singing, chanting, waiting... The Diamonds come out to warm up to a huge reception, you can see they're blown away by all the support.

The national anthem sounds amazing being sung by so many aussie fans. Someone in the kiwi section next to ours makes a point of handing out Jamaican flags amongst them, apart from that and one small section of Jamaicans, there's not much support for the jammies. We love them, but not today.

The only slight surprise in the aussie starting lineup is that Green is starting ahead of Pitman at WA. It seemed Pitman had forced her way into the starting WA position, but given the timing in attack was so out last night, Norma has gone with Green instead. Finally we're underway, and from the first whistle the aussies are intense. They're playing the fast game, and looking very slick in attack. Green is playing like a woman possessed (or like a woman trying to win back a starting seven spot). Coxy and Medhurst are on song, the whole attack line has the jammies spinning with the speed and precision of their passing. They look a completely different team to last night.

The jammie twin towers are scoring but it's not looking completely convincing. The defence end are stifling the ball down court but the kiwi umpire is penalising them every time they breathe. Fuhrmann literally can't go near Fowler without being penalised. The aussie crowd is booing hard at umpire Bobbi Brown. Towards the end of the first quarter the aussies eek out a few turnovers and at quarter time we're up by 6 goals and have piled on 19 goals that quarter. The crowd goes off and gives them a standing ovation at the break. I look over at the kiwi section next to us and they are looking quite unhappy, stark contrast to how they were feeling an hour or so ago.

The procession continues in the second quarter, and up the other end the aussies are allowed to contest the ball a bit more in defence. They are so slick and fast, the jammies have nothing in defence and are struggling in attack. We all feel sorry for Romelda Aiken, adopted Australian, cos she's still stuck in GA and it's a disaster. Similar to England, the coach makes a myriad of changes, none of them intelligent or successful. Aiken remains at GA. Jammies down by 14 at half time. Kiwi supporters leaving in droves and those remaining behind look depressed at the prospect that the aussies have got their act together in a big way.

Bobbi Brown has taken a Xanax at half time and allows the aussie defence to contest the ball in the third quarter, resulting in even more turnovers and a great display of athleticism from Julie Corletto in particular. Green and Corletto are on track to be best on court for mine. Norma clears out the bench at three quarter time and it's wholesale changes, giving everyone except Erin Bell a run. The changes are seamless and the margin continues to open up. Jamaica look like they gave up at half time, they're shattered. Bell finally gets a run in the last five minutes after some nice fake-injury acting from Medhurst.

Jubilent scenes in the crowd at the end of the game, and the girls clearly appreciate it, giving us a hearty clap in return. Final score 82-46. Wouldn't be surprised if this is a record score and/or winning margin against Jamaica. I'm relieved that we're through to the gold medal play-off, not the bronze! You've got to be in it to win it!

Vin and I strategically hold up the Bling It On sign so that it appears in the background of captain Nat von Bertouch's post-game interview. I find out later that lots of people from home have seen it on TV, and apparently the commentary team have given us a mention for the tshirts and sign. Woohooo! Getting lots of compliments on our three matching 'diamond' necklaces too. Cheap bling can go a long way! Even Vicki Wilson, ex aussie captain compliments us on the necklaces as we walk past.

We decide it's the perfect time to stalk Sharelle McMahon with our face masks, so head over to where she's performing her radio commentary duties. We stand directly in her line of sight, face masks up, and wave simultaneously. She cracks up, looks horribly embarrassed and has to explain to the bloke she's talking to that 'they've made masks of my face' (Vin is a good lip reader). She gives us a wave and a huge grin. Job well done.

We head for the MRT (train) and Mel and I call in to Clarke Quay for a late dinner while Vin hits the sack. We're seated at a table next to Carol Byers (assistant coach Vixens), it's like netball royalty all around Singa. Singa has come alive, Clarke Quay has gone from being all but deserted this morning to a bustling and vibrant city by night. My kind of place!

We discuss our chances for tomorrow. That was one of the most comprehensive and polished performances I've seen from the Diamonds in a long time. After the NZ semi I was thinking NZ were clear favourites and in the box seat, but the Diamonds have thrown down the gauntlet. It could be anyone's championship. GO YOU AUSSIES!!

The kiwis are coming

I wake early as I'm supposed to do a 12km run with a decent hill. Ha. Don't like my chances in this humidity. The girls decide to join me for a walk. We head up towards Fort Canning Park which is just across the road from our hotel.

It's really steamy this morning and we're knackered just from trudging up the steps to the park. It's a decent hill. I set off for the run, leaving the girls to their walk. The park has some coolish spots underneath the tree canopy, but it's undulating and I'm struggling. I run a lap of the park which is about 2.5kms, then decide to head down to the quays for the remainder. At the 4km mark I've had enough, I'm a sweaty sweatbox. I spend the next couple of kms interspersing walking with slowww jogging.

It's nice to have a closer look at the quays. Singapore doesn't seem to be an early riser, it's 8am and the streets are pretty empty. After 9kms of running/walking I get back to the hotel, surely the running exchange rate is SG9kms to AUS12kms.

It's semi final day at the netball, Jamaica v Australia and England v New Zealand, as well as some of the lower ranked games. Australia's form wasn't good last night and I'm nervous. Vin and Mel head off for a day of sightseeing but I potter around and get my blog organised. A few of the forum freaks are meeting at 2.00pm. By the time I get organised I decide it's easier to get a taxi to the stadium (www.lazytraveller.gov.au) and I arrive in time to meet the gang - Curlz, swifts rule, Guz and daughter, Fergus, Lurch, Netball Tragic, rossie, RSI and daughter. We're all wearing the #blingiton tshirts so we have no trouble finding each other.

Soon we're deep in conversation about last nights games and our fears for the semi. Although I'm nervous, I think we'll get past Jamaica. I figure last night was a one-off flat game before the serious stuff starts. You never know what you're going to get against Jamaica, sometimes they pull out a fantastic game and other times they crumble easily.

Their captain, Simone Forbes, was banned from the WCs for taking an illegal substance. She apparently took clomid, a fertility drug. Can't see how that would be performance enhancing. It's really sad that she's out because she's one of the best GAs in the world, has been around forever, and the Jammies are significantly weaker without her. After she got banned she announced her retirement, which is a huge loss for Jamaica, and will make our job much easier today.

The fellow freaks and I take some group photos and Julie Fitzgerald (former NSW Swifts coach) has the misfortune of walking past, so I accost her for a photo. She's great about it but slightly unnerved by the attention and bolts straight after the photo. It's great to catch up with everyone. We disperse to find seats. Again the seats are unallocated so it's pot luck. Lurch and Netball Tragic have been here all day watching the earlier games and they scout out a plum spot for me, four rows back from the front, behind one of the player benches, in the middle of the rabid aussie section. Perfect! I'm excited!

Mel and Vin arrive just in time for the England v New Zealand match. The first quarter is tight and tense, but in the second quarter England predictably begins to crumble under the pressure, enough for NZ to take a 5 goal lead at half time. The coach of England, aussie Sue Hawkins, makes a myriad of questionable positional changes throughout the game and NZ suddenly have an unassailable lead.

It's disappointing to see England fold, as over the last few years the quality of their players has really improved, but they just haven't had the mental toughness to hold it together against NZ and Australia when it really counts. They've talked it up in the lead up to the tournament, but they've failed to deliver and again find themselves in the bronze medal playoff after a 15 goal loss.

NZ are through to the gold medal playoff and their form is looking very ominous. They look clinical and very strong, and the kiwi crowd is going off, brimming with confidence. We're right behind the kiwi bench and the players and coaching staff look extremely pleased with themselves and rightly so.

It's time for the aussies and jammies to come out. Another contraband vodka settles the nerves. The starting lineups are revealed and Jamaica has gone with their two freakishly tall shooters, which means Romelda Aiken, best shooter in the ANZ Championship this year, is relegated to GA, her non-preferred position. Good. The further away from the post she is, the happier I am. I turn to Netball Tragic and give the thumbs up. We're gonna be fine.

Somewhat shaky

Having cleared out the Bling It On tshirts I'm desperate for the netball action to finally start for me. NZ had been playing South Africa in their quarter final whilst I was offloading the tshirts and I didn't get to see much of it, but NZ's winning margin wasn't as large as expected so it seemed the girls from SA had put up a decent fight. Meanwhile England had absolutely smashed Northern Ireland in their quarter final, which was worrying seeing as Australia had played NI in a pool match and hadn't won as convincingly.

It's hard to know what to read into the pool matches and even quarter-finals. Teams swap their lineups, different players fire and others have a bad day. Australia are playing Malawi in their quarter final, and Malawi are unconventional and unpredictable.

I had watched Malawi play NZ in a pool match at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and it was hilarious. They had used 80 something passes to score their first goal because NZ had been using a zone-style defence and Malawi basically just played keepings-off. The GK and GD must have passed it between them about 25 times before they edged their way down court to score. The looks on the faces of the kiwi players was priceless, they were completely bamboozled and had no idea how to counteract what was happening, until finally someone called a fake injury timeout and they re-gathered and came back on court with a one-on-one style defence. That was a small win for Malawi, to have made the then World Champions change their defensive style.

It's hard to find a decent seat. The seats up until the day of the medal matches are only allocated by section, and you have to battle for your own seat within that section. This results in people pinching seats wherever they like, and my seating bay is jam-packed for the aussie game. Vin and Mel finally arrive and we find a seat anywhere we can. Soon after we spot what appears to be a spare row of seats in the front row, second level up from the floor. Only drawback is that it is in a section full of kiwi fans. We stand out like dog's balls in our gold tshirts, and they make it clear they are cheering for Malawi. Great.

The rabid aussie supporter section is going off in the lead-up to the game, so I go over and hand out the remaining 20 Sharelle McMahon face masks to the front row. They are loving them. Mel produces contraband vodka disguised in a water bottle and we mix ourselves some refreshments, unveil the large Bling It On sign, and clear out the lungs a little. Beers at the stadium are $10, so the duty free vodka is paying dividends.

The game ensues, with Australia making more changes than a Gaga concert. Malawi does well, they scrap the aussies the whole way, unsettle their timing and make it a struggle to score. They also have a great young GS, Kumwenda, who combines beautifully with their GA to score with ease, particularly in the second half. They're embarrassing our defence and forcing turnover after turnover in our attack end. We only win the second half by 3 goals, final scoreline 58-44 to the aussies.

The aussie crowd is pretty flat throughout, as there aren't too many clear, convincing passages of play to cheer. The umpiring is also capital A for appalling. A couple of my fellow forum freaks gather and we dissect the game in great detail, to the amusement of non-freaks Vin and Mel. We're worried about the amount of turnovers, lack of flow, and that a starting 7 for the finals hasn't yet emerged. However, we're slightly comforted by the fact that NZ also had a flat game. Everyone is now talking up England as a real chance after their polished performance tonight.

I feel better after a bit of discussion, and just before the Jamaica v Trinidad and Tobago quarter final starts, none other than Vilimaina Davu walks past our seats to talk to someone close by. Back in 2003-2006 Davu was public enemy number one to Australian netball. She's a Fijian New Zealander. Take your pick. She did - switching from representing Fiji, to NZ, back to Fiji again at various world championships over a decade or so. She was big, bold, brash, and didn't mind dishing out cheap shots and sneaky tactics, all the while with a huge grin. She was also unbelieveably strong, and with great skills considering.

A brilliant plan enters my head. Egged on by Mel and Vin, and after a couple of minutes building up courage (Vili is a big girl) I approach her and ask her if she'd mind posing for some photos. She agrees, and as we're walking over to pose, I ask if she'd mind posing for two photos - one normal one, and one with me putting her in a headlock...

She pauses for a second.. I worry for my safety.. she claps her hands together and errupts in laughter, and agrees! We pose for the first normal photo, then she obligingly bends down and allows me to wrap my skinny arms around her rather large head, headlock-style, and for good measure I lift my other hand up in a fist towards her head. The huge kiwi contingent that were sitting behind us simultaneously crack up, we get the money shot, I tell Vili what a good sport she is and we give each other a bear hug before she heads off, chuckling loudly. That has made my day, possibly even my year!

We watch a bit of the Jamaica game before heading for the hotel. I suddenly realise I haven't eaten since breakfast, have been running on adrenalin. Back to the hotel for some nibblies and duty-free pomegranate margarita mix. Sans husbands and kids, we are living it up! After that performance from the aussies I'm worried about the prospect of tomorrow's semi-final against Jamaica though...

Lion City

Friday morning we get stuck into the hotel breakfast (some things haven't changed since 2000 - was always good to overeat at breakfast to save on lunch).

I knock out 8 x 800m repeats (400m slow in between each) on the treadmill before breakfast, so I'm starving by the time I hit the buffet. I'm training for Sydney's City to Surf which is only a few weeks after I get home from the trip. The thought of dragging my arse for 14kms and up those C2S hills forces me into the hotel gym. If I don't keep up the training, C2S will be a living hell.

We've decided to unashamedly board the hop-on/hop-off tourist bus to get an overview of Singapore. Singapore Island (the Lion City) is pretty tiny really, 42km by 22km, but with about 5 million people crammed in. As we walk down to the bus we're struck by how quiet the traffic is, and how neat and tidy the streets are. Government policies encourage/force people to buy a new car at least every 10 years, so there are no bombs driving around. A couple of tuk tuks, but they seem to be more about tourism than practicallity as they are in Bangkok.

The Government clearly pours bazillions into the upkeep on the roads, streets, buildings and of course there is new construction everywhere you turn. It's a great city, but the parts we have seen seem kind of.. sanitised. And highly westernised. Must get out and see more of it properly.

The weather is humid but not completely oppressive, occasionally you get a slight sea breeze to take the edge off the 30+ temp. The sky is grey and the sun doesn't seem to poke through all that often, which is not a bad thing, cos when it does it is unbearable for 3 little Canberrans. We're just starting to thaw out from what seems like our worst winter in a few years.

Vin and Mel have opted to get off the bus to go to Sentosa to get a 'fish pedicure'. You stick your feet in water and a bunch of small fish come and eat the dead skin and filth from your feet. Sounds delightful. Although I have awesome blisters and black toenails from running that the fish would love, I give it a wide berth and head back to the hotel to collect my gear for the netball. Mel later informs me that the fish pedicure freaked them out, and Vin screamed like a little girl.

While I'm waiting for the bus to switch over I see ex aussie team netballers Elouise Southby-Halbish and Liz Boniello. Turns out we just missed the Aussie Diamonds brunch hosted by ex aussie captain Vicki Wilson. My original itinerary said it was Sunday, but when I read the fine print of the itinerary the netball travel agent sent shortly before we left it says Friday in tiny letters. SPEWING. Would have been good if they had drawn the date change to our attention. Another case of www.dumbtraveller.gov.au.

Get back to the hotel, get my netball kit on and head for the netball, finally!

Love it when a plan comes together

A few months ago I decided I wanted to get tshirts made up for the three of us to wear to the netball WCs. Then I thought it'd be a good idea to see if fellow netball freaks from the netball forum I belong to (www.netballonline.info) would also like a tshirt. Then I thought maybe I'd take a few extras over to sell to people who saw the tshirts and liked them. Aussie Diamonds merchandise is pretty scarce and hard to get hold of, and the tshirt options are mainly replica training shirts. I wanted something with a witty slogan, and of course it had to be canary yellow (canary yellow?! That's Australian Gold my friend, and don't you ****ing forget it!)

I asked people on the forum for ideas and eventually settled on 'Aussie Diamonds Bling It On!' (thanks Liveste!) with a picture of a diamond inside the shape of the superman logo. On the back it says 'Shazza, wish u were here!' in honour of Sharelle McMahon, aussie captain who busted her achilles a couple of months before the WCs and is missing out on playing.

Losing her would have been similar to losing Steve Waugh for the Ashes or cricket world cup at the height of his powers. Shazza is one of a kind, in my opinion the best to have ever played the game. She'll be over in Singa doing some commentary so there will be ample opportunity to stalk her. As an extra, I have made 50 life-sized Shazza face masks to hand out in the crowd. Freak, I know. I told you I was obsessive about netball!

In the rush of the final weeks before we left I had 30 orders of tshirts from forumers and ordered an extra 17 to sell over here. One Sportswear in Canberra made them up and they turned out great (thanks Darryn!) It took a couple of weeks for the order to come in, so cutting it fine, but I managed to post a few shirts to people before they left for Singa, and the rest I have lugged over with me in my luggage.

When the order came in, I spread the tshirts out and took a couple of photos and posted it on Twitter so that the @AussieDiamonds could see. They loved it, re-tweeted it, and with a bit of encouragement from fellow forum freak Lurch, within a day or so people were hash-tagging #blingiton. Norma Plummer, Diamonds coach re-tweeted pictures of my tshirt too. Loving it!

It's amazing the buzz you can create from a slogan, a few tshirts and a bit of savvy use of social networking. The Aussie Diamonds also posted it on their Facebook page and soon people were emailing me from all over the country asking to buy the spare tshirts. Love it when a plan comes together!

So, finally I've arrived at the stadium to hand these shirts out. But not before going through a sh*tfight just to get my tickets from the travel agent who was supposed to be at a particular hotel the day before to hand them out, and wasn't. So I have to wait 20 minutes for stadium security to go and find him in the crowd so I can get my precious tickets. With that finally sorted out, I text the forumers and they start arriving to collect the tshirts. Some of them I've met previously, some I haven't. Great to see them all, and they're loving the tshirts.

While I've got the tshirts out and handing them over to forumers, people walking past start milling around asking if they can buy them. Within 10 minutes I'm mobbed by aussie supporters crowding around waiting for me to hand out the pre-ordered shirts so that I can sell the 17 spares. It takes me ages to get it sorted out to make sure I'm not missing anyone's pre-ordered shirt, and while I'm madly trying to do that, stadium security comes over.

'Are you selling tshirts?' he asks (insert asian accent)

'No... these are pre-ordered in Australia... ' I say, putting on my most innocent face.

'So why is there cash transactions?'

'Oh... uh... just because people are picking them up now...' I revert to www.dumbtraveller.gov.au face.

This seems to work, cos he asks me to move my gear and assembled crowd to behind a curtained-off area to finish what I'm doing. By now there are a good 10 people lined up, anxious to get their hands on a tshirt, and I know I've only got a couple yet and am frantically sorting out the sizes. Finally the last three tshirts are sold and 9 unhappy customers leave empty-handed. I give them a consolation Shazza face mask and tell them I'll do another order when I get home to Oz. I should have ordered 300 tshirts and sold them for a profit! (I only sold them for cost price, the motivation was just to get them amongst the crowd)

After I've finished packing up the security guard comes over and explains that you can't sell tshirts here because it is considered 'hawking' and is illegal because there is official merchandise for sale. Pity the official merchandise is so sh*thouse!

I give him a long-winded story about how I'm travelling in a group (true) and the tshirts were for the group (partially true - you could classify the 2000+ aussie supporters who have travelled over here for the WCs as a group)... he politely wishes me good day, and I slink off, relieved that

(a) I haven't been escorted from the stadium and arrested, and

(b) I have offloaded most of the tshirts (still a couple more forumers to find tomorrow), and

(c) I can finally sit down and watch some netball.

Bling it on!

From little things, big things grow

I'm a self-confessed, obsessive netball fan. For years I've been promising myself that I'd go to a Netball World Championships. They're held every four years so you have a bit of time to plan.

The last WCs in 2007 were supposed to be held in Fiji, but surprisingly (not) there was a coup and the WCs had to be moved to Auckland, New Zealand. Aside from the fact that I had a one year old at the time, I decided not to go to NZ because the thought of Australia potentially losing the WCs to NZ on their home soil was too much. Can you imagine? It turned out the aussies beat them on their home soil so I needn't have worried.

Fast forward a few years and the idea of attending the 2011 WCs in Singapore is planted. A year ago myself and two great friends VIn and Mel decide to go. Regular planning sessions are held, usually on a Friday night with glasses of wine in hand. Now suddenly we are sitting on a plane on the way to Singapore.

It's -4 degrees the morning we leave Canberra - see ya!!! We've left behind the Canberra winter, 3 x husbands and 7 x kids between us for 10 nights. How the hell did we pull this off? we ask ourselves, accompanied by high-fives. Mel suggests it is because we married good men. I suggest it is because we presented the idea as a fait accompli - sound confident and you shall succeed. Both are true!

The plane trip is typically agonising, and it is not long before travel madness kicks in. Before we leave Canberra airport in fact. I haven't travelled since the year 2000 when I was foot-loose and fancy-free. Vin and I (along with her husband to-be) had spent 10 days driving around the UK together, this was at the end of my 6 month European adventure. We muse about how things are slightly different this time.

Then, we ate bread sandwiches with freebie sachets of brown sauce to save precious money. Now, we're hooking into the food on offer at the Qantas Club (which is pretty disappointing I might add!) Then, we stayed at backpacker hostels that usually involved a few kilometres of trudging to the outskirts of town with a 20kg backpack. Now, we wheel our 20kg suitcases into the 4 star Novotel in the heart of the Clarke Quay area of Singapore.

Then, you could breeze your way through airport security. Now, Mel and I are picked for the random explosives test and customs interrogation. The customs guy chats to us while we're waiting and we tell him we're going to the netball WCs. He thinks we are playing. Not the first time this has happened in the lead-up to the trip. Perhaps I look like an elite athlete rather than an average one! 'Bring back the cup' he calls out as we leave. 'We'll do our best' I say. LOL

Back in 2000, I kept in touch with home by sending occasional emails from internet cafes. Now, I'm complaining cos my iphone isn't picking up the wi-fi. Then, we scabbed drinks from strangers in bars and when forced to buy our own, we bought the cheapest beer on offer. Now, we stock up on duty-free grog including a bottle of Veuve Cliquot to have at the conclusion of the WCs. Hopefully celebratory, not commisoratory!

We land in Singa, and our first taste of the weather is a shock to the system after frosty Canberra. Driving to the hotel, this doesn't feel like Asia. Reminds us of Sydney or Brisbane with a few more asian signs. Can see the bright lights of city and skyscrapers, not as big as I'd imagined but still plenty of them. The hotel is nice, smells like lemongrass. Into our hotel room, which is 2 beds plus fold-out bed. Mel, the shortest of us, takes one for the team and opts for the fold-out bed.

Our fridge isn't working so we angle for an upgrade but they shoot us down with a replacement fridge. Oh well, at least the champagne is now on ice.