[6] Having moved to Otago, she again made the South Island team in 1964; her play at goal attack in the inter-island match "proved much too skilful for the individualistic tactics of the North team", and she gave "capable support" to goal shooter Joan Martin.

[8][9] Back playing for Southland in 1966, she was one of 21 players named as trialists for the national team to travel to the 1967 World Netball Championships.

[11] After trials in March 1967, Gardiner was selected for the New Zealand national netball team that travelled to Australia and competed in that year's world championships in Perth.

[12][13] At the tournament, Gardiner struggled to break into the first-choice team for New Zealand—with Joan Harnett and Mirth Solomon preferred in the circle—and only played in one match, against Singapore.

[17][18] They later separated, and Douglas Filippini, a lawyer, was convicted of fraud and sentenced to nine months in jail in 1979,[19] and struck off as a barrister and solicitor the following year.