While Shane was playing his best football in his career, living in Wellington was challenging for Nikki.

"I was a brand new Mum with no one around to help me or even just to hang out with," she admitted. "There weren't any other families in the team so it was a difficult and lonely time. " 
 
But she got on with it - there isn't really a choice. While the life of a football family is often fun, exciting and spontaneous, as a partner you are often alone - for weekends, weeks and occasionally months on end. 
 
"I was really missing going to Shane's games so I arranged for Mum to look after Bonnie for the first time and went to Melbourne for an away game. And after Shane and I had dinner one night, I felt a familiar queasy feeling in my belly and knew immediately - I was pregnant."
 
As the two recounted the story, they look at each other knowingly and crack up laughing. Shane and Nikki both recollect what he said at the time and they say in unison, "Holy sh*t! I need a new contract"
 
Twelves goals and three big awards later, the Smeltzes were off to the Queensland sunshine, with Shane now a different kind of player - no longer desperate but accomplished and sought after.
 
Both turning points in Shane's career materialised around the time when Nikki was pregnant, the first with Bonnie, now 6, and Scarlett, now 5.
 
He added: "I just had this feeling of wanting to do well for my kids - you only feel it when you have had them. I felt my focus had shifted when Bonnie came into our lives. I knew I had to do great for them.
 
"It was a no brainer to sign with Gold Coast United. It was home for us - and travelling to different parts of the world only made that clearer.
 
"The lifestyle, the beaches, the weather, the feeling we have when we are here. We know one day, when its all over we will live here with our family".
 
And while Gold Coast residents would be happy he didn't bring the weather from Wellington with him, what he did bring was his incredible form, at one time scoring eight goals in five games.  But offers came and it became almost impossible to stay.
 
"I had a few lucrative offers, some I considered, others I rejected right off the bat. There's always a checklist involved when looking at opportunities abroad, and its obviously not just money."
 
A move to China that didn't eventuate led to Shane coming back to the Gold Coast where Clive Palmer welcomed him back with open arms. This return was short lived and when opportunity came knocking - again - we saw the Smeltz family en route to Turkey.
 
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