IT DIDN'T take too long after winning the WDF World Championship for Shane McGuirk to realise just how it was going to change his life.
Within 24 hours of the biggest achievement of his darts career, the Monaghan man was already getting requests to bring his world championship trophy on an exhibition tour of Australia.
That was an opportunity that The Arrow was never going to pass up and he will be heading Down Under in July for exhibitions in the likes of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and beyond.
Shane told Darts In Ireland that such a tour only highlights the enormity of his achievement.
He said: "It's still hard to describe the feeling you get when people call you a world champion.
"I think only those who have done it can really understand it but it is very special.
"It opens up opportunities like this exhibition tour of Australia and I'm really looking forward to that.
"I think it was literally on the night I won the world championship final, or the day after, that I was getting messages off the Sydney Darts Club inviting me to Australia.
"They had all been watching my games over there, probably because two of the players I beat on the way to the final were Australian, and so it was nice of them to invite me over."
Shane said he has never been to Australia before and will be making the most of this opportunity.
He said: "There will be a fair bit of travelling involved between the cities but I'd like to go and see a bit of them too, having not been there before.
"If I've an exhibition after 6pm, there's nothing stopping me getting up at 6am that day to go do a bit of sightseeing."
Exhibitions are becoming more of a feature for Shane since becoming world champion.
He's done a number of them in Ireland already this year, with a few more to come, as he says he enjoys getting to perform for people in that environment.
He said: "I try to keep it light hearted and not too serious and just have a bit of fun with it.
"I've been adding in some new bits such as throwing from outside the fire exit or while sitting on a stool.
"I don't practice trick shots or anything because they either work out on the night or they don't and it's not that important anyway so long as people are enjoying it.
"That said, it would be nice to do a nine dart finish when I'm down in Australia."
On the more serious side, Shane, who will be playing for the Republic of Ireland at the Six Nations in Wales next month, said he will be doing all he can to retain his WDF world crown at Lakeside in December.
He added: "I've never prepared as well for a tournament as I did for last year's world championships but so it would be good to get that prepared again.
"I think the odds of me going back and winning it again this year are long, I don't really see it happening.
"But I also won't be going over there to lose either. I'll just see how I get on in the first game and take it from there."
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