The UK and Australia have a reciprocal agreement in regards helth cover which means permanent residents and tourists alike can get basic health care free. This system works fairly well given the peculiarities of the system, but it does lead to some odd situations.
The most recent one was recently when the oldies went to renew their Medicare card.
To get medical services free In Australia you have to be registered with Medicare. When you are, you get a card with a number on it that providers can use to reclaim costs. Usually tourists don’t get issued with a card unless they’re here for a period of at least three months. The oldies have been here for 3 months, so got their card (well got a number anyway, the card will probably arrive after they’ve gone :)) which has now expired.
They now have another temporary visa… so went back to get their card/number renewed. Obviously Medicare need proof they are in the country legally, so we show them the visa letter we received authorising their stay.
That is where it all went wrong… again.
The visa had been issued electronically so we assumed all Medicare would need to do would be type in the passport number and up would come the information. Wrong… of course. That’s only for permanent residents… the visa standing of the other millions of tourists aren’t accessible.
Ok… we have a print out of the letter… nope… not acceptable. We have to go to a Dept of Immigration Office and get them to actually physically stick a visa on the passport!
We remonstrated a little. There’s not much point arguing with bureaucracies, it’s usually a futile pastime. We complained that they had defeated the entire point of doing things electronically, and if they can already access the permanent visa holders then doing the same for extended stay toruists should be a simple affair!
Anyway, we’re off to try to get is sorted today… we’ll probably go to Parramatta to see if they can do it… otherwise it’s in to Sydney with all its parking problems.
The Eclectic Interweb 
Yeah, I just heard the news too, that Billy Thorpe (Most People I Know Think That I’m Crazy) has died of a massive heart attack.
Billy was one of the great Australian Rockers. We all will miss him sadly.
Let’s not forget Billy. He’s a great inspiration to the younger rockers… the newer rock bands just wouldn’t be the same without influenc from the older greats like him.
Farewell Billy, you will always be remembered as the legend you were.
Hmmm… I wonder if this shouldn’t have been posted under the ‘Vale Billy Thorpe‘ entry??