Katrina Gorry was alone in hotel quarantine when she found out she was pregnant.

"I just remember sitting on my bed and I had tears streaming down my face," the Matilda's star told Nine.com.au.

"I can't really explain that moment, I had thought about it my whole life and nothing will really compare to that."

For as long as she can remember, the Brisbane-born footballer has wanted to be a mum.

Growing up in a big blended family cemented this further.

"I have three brothers, one sister, three-step and a half-brother – so always had a big family, always been around kids and always known that I'd wanted to have a family.

"And I've always kind of wanted to be a young mum," the 28-year-old said.

How it happened

Last year Gorry, the 2014 Asian player of the year, had her boots on the ground in Norway playing in the top women's competition there.

Missing the birth of her nephew back in Brisbane due to coronavirus border closures and separated from her tight-knit family, Gorry decided it was time to start her own.

"2021 was always the year I had planned, and that was with or without a partner,' she said.

"I was always happy to have a baby on my own, I knew with my family support that I would be capable of doing it and that I would be able to give (a baby) a pretty good life."

Last November she underwent her first round of IVF while still in Norway.

If she was fortunate enough to fall pregnant, she would give up any chance of making the next Olympics.

"I was lucky enough to conceive the first time," she said.

A few months later, sitting in hotel quarantine, a faint line appeared on a pregnancy test.

But when she gathered all her family together to tell them, it didn't quite go to plan.

"I called all my siblings, I hadn't told my parents at the time, I kinda wanted to surprise them," Gorry said.

"I put a little box together, I had the pregnancy test, the IVF papers and a little shirt and socks in there that said: 'I love my grandparents'.

"When they opened it, my mum just couldn't wrap her head around it, she was really confused who was pregnant because all my siblings came over to watch her reaction.

"She was trying to figure out who it was, and I was like: 'mum, I gave you the box, I'm not going to tell you somebody else is pregnant'."

Gorry's dad was even more confused, "somehow" thinking she was opening a café, before her step-mum corrected him.

"I just can't believe he would get that out of it, I thought I'd put it together pretty well but clearly, I didn't," she laughed.

An extra special goal

In January, Gorry, a two-time W-League winner, was back in Australia and playing for the Brisbane Roar.

At 11 weeks pregnant she had only shared the news with a few close friends and her teammates – needing to explain why her balanced diet had turned into one of bread, biscuits and hot chips.

Despite this, Gorry scored Roar's opening goal for the season – an incredible long-range shot two and a half minutes into the match.

"That goal will probably stay with me for the rest of my life I think it was pretty special, and it'll be nice to tell the little one when they're a bit older about what happened and why all the girls were so excited," she said.

The body changes

As an athlete, Gorry has to watch everything that goes in and out of her body.

This attention to detail culminated in disordered eating in her early 20s, but with pregnancy she said she loves her body more than ever.

"I just think the female body is really incredible with what we can do, and the fact that you can grow a little human and feed it and everything like that I think is really, really incredible," she said.

"I probably love myself more than I ever have because of this process and I think a lot of women will probably feel that way when they go through something like this."

The next step

Gorry is determined to return to professional football once she's given birth to her baby girl in August.

"Having the 2023 World Cup as a reward would be pretty special," she said.

"Hopefully I can come back to soccer and just have a little one there supporting me."

OPINION: Renters have been thrown under a bus by the Labour Government this week. Now the dust has settled on the Government’s announced housing changes, economists are pointing to a likely rise in the cost of rents, and an increase…

The Defence Department has confirmed that an Australian soldier died while on service in the Northern Territory.

The male soldier died on Thursday after he collapsed from heat exhaustion during a military exercise.

A Defence Department spokesman told nine.com.au the was treated by members of his unit and an ambulance was called.

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"At the time of the incident, soldiers from his platoon administered first aid, and immediately called an ambulance.

"Paramedics responded and were on the scene treating the member within 15 minutes.

"We extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends, and are providing ongoing welfare support at this difficult time."

Defence Department officials are investigating the fatality and the cause of the death is yet to be established by the coroner.

The spokesman said out of respect for the soldier's family, officials will not will be releasing any further personal or service information about him.

There is one new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation, the Ministry of Health says.Health officials have also uncovered a historical case – someone who arrived in February from India at the end of February but was only found to…

Experts are warning NSW residents to be on the lookout for killer funnel-web spiders, after heavy rain combined with warm weather creates an ideal environment for the creatures to thrive.

Funnel-webs are usually attracted to humid conditions as it is their preferred weather for mating, however officials are warning that due to the recent floods, there may soon be a "boom" of the critters as they search for dry land.

Australian Reptile Park Director Tim Faulkner said he's already seen increased movements of the spiders in recent days, with "a plague" expected to turn up in the next week.

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"The upcoming warm weather and high levels of humidity is the perfect storm for a funnel-web spider boom in coming days," he said.

"Under normal circumstances, the humidity that is generated from warm weather after a rain event would see an increase in activity amongst funnel-webs.

"This situation is completely different. Not only are we seeing increased movement due to humidity, but we're already seeing a plague of ground-dwelling spiders searching for higher ground, out of the floodwaters."

Mr Faulkner has urged residents across the state to stay vigilant, aware and across the correct protocols if they should encounter the deadly creatures.

If it is safe to do, Mr Faulkner said, it is recommended that people catch the spiders and bring them into the Australian Reptile Park so that they can be "milked" for lifesaving anti-venom.

The process has saved an immeasurable amount of Aussie lives since its inception in the early 80s and there has not been a death from a funnel-web spider bite since.

The Federal Government should apply a "laser-like focus" on increasing the pace of Australia's COVID-19 vaccination rollout as it risks falling behind other nations, a public health expert warned.

There is concern after the number of vaccinations struggled to reach a quarter of the Federal Government's target of 4 million jabs by the end of this month.

Adjunct Professor Bill Bowtell, from the University of NSW, told Today other countries are pulling ahead of Australia.

"Yesterday in the United States in one day 3.4 million doses were administered. That's getting on for about the entire adult population of Australia every week," he said.

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And even developing countries that lack the health services Australia has are making progress, Prof Bowtell said.

Public health expert Bill Bowtell said Australia is in a race against time to vaccinate its population against coronavirus.

"Developing countries like Bangladesh, Rwanda, Senegal all of whom have much worse societal problems than we do are ahead of us."

Prof Bowtell said it was essential for the Federal Government to take a cold hard look at the vaccination rollout.

"We have to ask some very serious questions about why we are falling behind, we have got to correct those problems with a laser-like focus from the prime minister and the government."

Prof Bowtell said GPs and other frontline health workers were well positioned to administer vaccinations but suffered a lack of regular supplies.

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"I know in Port Stephens they were geared up already to receive 5000 doses a week. And what they got last week was 50. Now, that's just not good enough."

"The doctors, the GPs, the pharmacies, all ready to go, but they are being let down by a failure to commit to targets, to plan and to deliver. So we have to do better with procurement."

Prof Bowtell said supplies should increase when pharmaceutical company CSL begins producing the AstraZeneca vaccine at its Melbourne plant. Earlier this week, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved the release of more than 832,000 doses of the local AstraZeneca vaccine.

But Australia still faced a "race against time" to innoculate the population against COVID-19 while cases in the country remained very low, warned Prof Bowtell.

"We have zero-zero but people have mistaken this momentary advantage for the long term solution. And it's not. We need vaccinations. We need to have an entire population vaccinated as soon as possible."

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Prof Bowtell said authorities should utilise sporting grounds and other public facilities as well as introducing drive-through COVID-19 jabs to ramp up vaccination numbers.

And he warned it was also essential to curb the alarming rise in coronavirus cases in neighbouring Papua New Guinea before it spilled into Far North Queensland.

"We can't be out of woods until the entire world is. Papua New Guinea particularly. So yes, we run a big risk of falling behind."

Plastic bottles and garbage float on the Tagaret River, which flows into Uru Uru Lake, near Oruro, Bolivia.

Former President Donald Trump defended some of his supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, saying they posed “zero threat” to the lawmakers who had assembled there to certify the Electoral College vote that confirmed Joe Biden's victory in the presidential race.

Trump complained to Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham that law enforcement was “persecuting” the Capitol rioters, while “nothing happens” to left-wing protesters.

READ MORE: Trump 'was rooting for rioters'

"They're persecuting a lot of those people, and some of them should be — some things should happen to them," he said.

"But when I look at Antifa in Washington, even, what they did to Washington and what they did to other locations and the destruction, and frankly, the killing and the beating up of people, and nothing happens to them whatsoever.

"Why aren't they going after Antifa?"

Trump did acknowledge that those who stormed the Capitol “went in and they shouldn’t have done it.”

"It was zero threat, right from the start, it was zero threat," he said.

READ MORE: How a wild conspiracy theory led to the storming of the US Capitol

"Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know, they had great relationships.

"A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out."

More than 300 people have been charged in connection to the riot. Authorities have said they believe at least 100 more could face charges.

The January 6 riot followed a fiery Trump rally outside the White House, in which he urged a mob of his supporters to “fight like hell” for him at the Capitol.

A week later, the House impeached Trump for the second time, but the Senate eventually acquitted him on the charge of inciting the attack.

READ MORE: Trump's lawyer argues no reasonable person would believe her

China is extending tariffs on Australia wine exports for another five years as relations further sour between Beijing and Canberra.

Chinese officials said the taxes – expected to be up to 220 per cent – were an anti-dumping measures.

Exporters of wine related to the anti-dumping rules will need to pay tax to China's customs authority, officials said.

READ MORE: Booming Australian wheat exports to China despite tensions

The trade sanctions come after China announced last year it would impose temporary tariffs on wine from Australia from November 28 for four months, but warned they could be extended.

The Australian wine industry is expected to ask the Federal Government to approach World Trade Organisation (WTO) for help.

The latest trade sanctions against Australian exporters come after relations between Beijing and Canberra plummeted over the last year.

Exports including coal, barley, beef, lobster and timber were hit with tariffs and other sanctions.

They came after Australia called for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and the Federal Government introduced foreign interference legislation.

READ MORE: 'I can't sit in silence anymore': Tracy Vo's plea for compassion and respect

Earlier this week, Federal Government officials told Senate Estimates the value of Australian trade with China for nearly all industries has declined by 40 per cent since the trade dispute intensified.

Wine exports had dropped to less than $1 million in January, from a high of $164 million last October.

By RNZ A Bay of Plenty woman who waited 16 hours with her elderly father to get treatment at Waikato Hospital says she was shocked to learn how overwhelmed the emergency department was.The woman, who does not want to be identified,…