llessur

Just to add to the above - the tram is free within the CBD so if you're not venturing into the suburbs or heading to the beach at Glenelg etc then just jump on. If you head outside of the free zone then there will be an announcement to validate your pass/ticket. Also, it wasn't very widely advertised but tap and pay with a credit/debit card has been active on all trams since last September - I presume it will be rolled out to buses and trains soon too. As per NicF's post, North Terrace is good for a stroll with most of the museums, galleries etc located there as well as the Botanic Garden etc. However, Adelaide Fringe runs from 19 February - 21 March 2021 so you'll have a huge number of possibilities if you're coming next week - the city should be alive every day and you can head to the Garden of Unearthly Delights, Gluttony, outdoor dining on Rundle Street etc. Maybe check out the Fringe website and book tickets to a couple of shows! Other than that, the River is always nice for a stroll - especially between the Oval and the Zoo. The Zoo's fun too and if you find yourself on your own it might be a nice escape for a few hours. As for restaurants and bars etc, there's lots to explore - some info is on this thread I created a while back but I have neglected to maintain it lately. As for pubs, if you like craft beer etc I'd also highly recommend checking out the Wheaty in Thebarton - only a 5 or 10 minute tram ride from North Terrace (still in the free zone): http://wheatsheafhotel.com.au/. For a drink on the riverfront with views of the Oval you can't beat the Malt Shovel: https://maltshoveltaphouse.com.au/agegate/. Bar-wise, Hains & Co on Gilbert Place is nice: https://www.hainsco.com.au/ as is NOLA on Varden Ave: http://www.nolaadelaide.com/. If you like gin you should head to the Howling Owl: http://www.thehowlingowl.com.au/. For great rooftop views over the city there's 2KW on King William Street (https://2kwbar.com.au/) and also a new rooftop bar on the shiny new casino building behind the railway station (https://skycityadelaide.com.au/eat-and-drink/sol-bar-and-restaurant/). If you like craft breweries and you've got time to go slightly further afield then you can try the new Pirate Life brewery at Port Adelaide or out to Little Bang in Stepney. Both might be easier via an Uber though.

I don't think anyone of note has said that COVID is worse than anything that humanity has faced before. In fact we are lucky that it is not. Even in terms of pandemics it is not at the top of the list - the Spanish Flu pandemic in the 1900s infected 500 million people or one third of the world's population and killed around 20-50 million. However, it is bad enough to warrant serious action as millions of people would still die an early and painful death if we did nothing. In terms of health crises it is the worst we have faced in 2 or 3 generations - but obviously virtually no one alive today is old enough to remember the last time this happened so we have nothing in living memory to compare it to. Likewise, no one of note has referred to this pandemic as Armageddon. It is not the end of the world in a literal sense and is very unlikely to be. Dealing with a global health crisis and addressing climate change over the medium to long term are disparate issues. Victoria's 5 day lockdown will hopefully act as a circuit-breaker, minimising community transmission and allowing health authorities to trace and test anyone who might have been infected. Without a lockdown, if there are cases currently incubating in the community with people moving around and spreading it then next week we would see a big eruption of cases throughout the state. This is a chance for contact tracers to do their work and close down the cluster as we have seen happen elsewhere. I would suggest it would be entirely unreasonable to prevent people from leaving their houses once a day to shop for food. Not everybody has access to the internet to do their food shopping and even if they did there is absolutely no way that the supermarkets would be able to service the entire state of Victoria suddenly shopping online. Presumably one period of exercise outside per day is also seen as minimal enough risk that the mental and physical health benefits from doing so outweigh it (especially bearing in mind that most spread comes from prolonged indoor contact). This is about minimising movements within the community, not entirely eliminating it. As with everything it's about striking a sensible balance - starving people and denying them the possibility to pick up their medication from the pharmacy is an inappropriate response to the situation. Requiring the population to wear masks even when they're trying to place food in their mouths is bordering on ridiculous. I can't help feeling that you are looking for conspiracies for the sake of looking for them. Personally I'm just grateful and proud that so far our authorities have taken the right course of action to allow us just about the most (safe) freedom in the world. The Australian approach is working - for most of us who have family and friends back in the UK that's blatantly obvious through having heard their stories over the last 12 months.

Same here - it was a much easier process hiring a car in the UK on my Australian licence as only half the paperwork was required. Highly recommended

I think it's a bit of a misnomer to be referring to the "ordinary flu" in the context of COVID. The flu is not a lesser variety of COVID - they are completely different diseases caused by different viruses. Even in Australia we have been taking significant steps which are out of the ordinary - capacity of venues has been slashed, spacing between humans has been increased in pretty much every setting, activities most likely to spread viruses (such as singing and dancing) have been curtailed, most of us are washing and sanitising our hands many more times each day than we did before COVID. In addition, back in the early days of the outbreak the dangers of becoming ill with both COVID and flu at the same time were pressed home by the government and health authorities - I suspect the uptake of flu vaccinations for the last flu season may have been higher than usual too. In a nutshell, the exact same measures that we are using to prevent the spread of COVID are reducing the spread of other viruses such as influenza and the common cold. They may be different viruses but their spread can be curtailed by exactly the same precautions and those precautions are exactly the reason why we are seeing lower flu cases now. Why would you think that this wouldn't be the case? You are absolutely right in that the 'soldier on' mentality with regards to colds should be addressed in the future. No one should knowingly bring a virus into their school or workplace. I would like to think that we will all be a little bit more responsible moving into the future - although that will also depend on how much that is supported by employers and government policy in relation to ensuring widespread access to sick pay etc. But with any situation the health benefits have to be weighed up against the economic and social impacts. Common colds do not generally pose a serious risk to health nor do they threaten to overwhelm our health system. Colds may be annoying to endure but the impact of even the worst cold is minimal compared to the potential immediate and long-term risks from COVID (lung damage, brain damage, death etc). Closing schools and workplaces due to cold outbreaks would not be an appropriate level of action to take - but ensuring the availability of hand sanitiser and public health information and encouraging the sick to stay at home would be. It's worth noting that the population of countries like Hong Kong who experienced the SARS epidemic back in the early 2000s are still much more accepting of mask wearing and social distancing measures than those of us who it did not affect. With regards to the handing of the Victorian second wave, I agree that arguably mistakes were made but this was also the first time that the virus had escaped from hotel quarantine in Australia so was a completely new set of circumstances to deal with. The contact tracing and testing teams were underprepared and the virus was not picked up until it had already been circulating in the community for a couple of weeks. Those weeks added months onto the length of the lockdown required to bring it under control. We have however been able to learn from those mistakes - contact tracing and testing resources have been massively improved and hotel quarantine staff are now tested far more regularly to avoid situations where breaches are not detected for more than a day or two. Say what you will about the initial handling of the outbreak but virtually no-one in the world believed that Victoria would be able to achieve anything other than a suppression of the case numbers (even with their strict lockdown) - but in the end they achieved practical elimination which given the circumstances was an outstanding performance by the government, health workers, police, ADF and the Victorian population. Victorian contact tracing and testing resources are now amongst the most advanced in the nation, if not the world. To say that they have not learned from their second wave is fundamentally incorrect. We all have.

I think the fact that it's not urgent here due to lack of community transmission means the regulators and government have had the luxury of being able to review the roll outs happening overseas to ensure that it is managed as well as possible here. It also means that they will be able to stockpile vaccines in advance of the planned distribution meaning manufacturers' recommended spacing in between doses can be maintained and not have to be extended like in the UK with unknown outcomes. Frontline health workers and other key groups are due to receive their first jabs in the next few weeks. Despite what I have said above, it does seem like the UK's roll out is going quite well - my Devon-based parents are in their mid 60s with no underlying conditions and received their first Pfizer jabs yesterday. All of my aunts and uncles of similar ages but elsewhere in the UK have received their first doses too.

Likewise. The public health system here is excellent and in the last 10 years of being here neither my partner or I have regretted not taking out insurance. We have ambulance cover and put aside some savings in a health fund each month but other than that we're going it alone and are already thousands of dollars better off for it. The way I see it is that if need to go to hospital in an emergency you'll be in a public hospital anyway. Other than arguably silly things like being able to decide your surgeon/obstetrician etc (as if I know them well enough to choose...) the only benefit I can see from private cover is getting quicker access to elective surgeries like knee and hip ops which are more likely to be required with age. In the years in between that's one hell of a lot of money going to an insurance company for something you might never need - seems a much better idea to put it in the bank. I know lots of people who bang on about all the 'free' stuff they're getting from their extras cover like some money off of glasses, a bit of physio or remedial massage etc but seemingly forgetting they're paying a grand a year in extras premiums to start off with. I'd need to access one hell of a lot of physio *every single year for the rest of my life* to make that remotely worthwhile. Unless you're paying for a top tier policy to begin with, none of the expensive stuff like dental work appears to be covered for anything more than a token amount which would still leave you considerably out of pocket if you need a crown or something (plus, again, you've already been paying for the policy for the X years prior to needing it). We had our two babies in the public system - it was an excellent experience all round with private rooms, great medical staff and great follow-up for a couple of issues we had with one of them - and it didn't cost us a cent. We know various couples who have had their kids in the private system, had a similar experience (but maybe with some slightly nicer food and a choice of obstetrician - although I'm pretty sure that mid-labour my wife would have been happy with pretty much anyone in scrubs) and they still came out with a $2000 bill to pay at the end of it all despite paying thousands of dollars for coverage in the years prior. Plus, if the pregnancy is anything other than routine then you'll most likely be transferred to a public hospital anyway thus meaning all of your premiums to date for pregnancy cover will have been completely wasted. I've had the odd ultrasound and x-ray since being out here and for the infrequency of this type of thing being needed (maybe once every 3-4 years) being a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket for the gap at the time seems like a bargain. I'll continue to put money aside for knee ops and kid's braces in case they're needed in the future but if they're not then I'd be much happier passing that very substantial amount of money onto my kids than giving it to Bupa or similar.

We came out when we were in our late 20s/early 30s and didn't really have much to ship - we were living in a shared house until we left so didn't really have much furniture or anything of great value. We came out with a 30kg suitcase each and then shipped 3 tea chest style boxes of various bits with a moving company. When the boxes arrived a couple of months later I couldn't for the life of me fathom why we'd ended up packing three boxes of what was essentially junk and most of it has now long been op shopped. In hindsight I would have just packed the suitcases and left it at that. My parents recently sold up and moved from the family home in the UK and I had a very fortuitously timed visit to help them back in January 2020, just before COVID kicked off. I packed a few more sentimental bits like photos etc in my suitcase when I came home to Oz and spend some time selling off the rest of my stuff on Gumtree for some beer pounds to lubricate my visit. I also brought back an M&S Victoria sponge cake for the wife and a few packets of UK sweets for me the kids. That just about does it for me stuff wise.

If you're looking to get an inspection done then I'd highly recommend David Murray from Adelaide Pre-purchase Inspections (www.appi.com.au). He did a really thorough job when we used him, and he has done similar for a couple of friends too. We used another company for the house we actually ended up buying as David was fully booked and they didn't spend half as long inspecting as David did (and they missed a few things too).

The process here is 10x better than in the UK - you'll normally get the keys and be in your new home within 4-6 weeks of having an offer accepted or winning an auction. Most houses are listed for sale for around 4 weeks before either an auction is held or offers close. Either way, there will be a series of open home inspections scheduled in the weeks leading up to that date, normally on weekends. You can just turn up, give a few details to the agent and take a look round with everyone else who's turned up. If you're really keen on a house you can also arrange for a building inspection during this time (around $500) but obviously if you don't end up being the winning buyer it's money down the drain. If the house is being sold at auction (I would estimate at least 50% of houses in metropolitan SA are) then this will be your only chance of having an inspection done as you would be unlikely to be able to attach a 'subject to inspection' clause to your bids at an auction. If it's a sale by offers situation as opposed to an auction then there will be a closing date for the offers generally around 4 weeks after listing. You can attach a 'subject to inspection' clause to offers submitted this way but obviously your offer would be less attractive to a seller than a similar offer from a buyer who doesn't attach any clauses. In both cases - houses sold by auctions or offers - sellers can choose to accept a good offer prior to the auction/closing date so you can't always bank on the sale process running the full time period. If you're genuinely interested in a property then it's always worth letting the agent know and asking them to involve you if a seller is considering accepting another early offer, or put an offer in yourself - people can argue that this shows your hand to an agent prior to an auction but at the end of the day the bidders control the selling price of houses sold that way, not the agent. We bought our house through an offers process and submitted our offer with a subject to satisfactory inspection condition - we had the inspection done the next day, signed the paperwork a couple of days later and within another 3-4 weeks moved in. We also bid for two houses at auction prior to buying this one - the first we were really keen on so got an inspection done during the period the property was listed ($500 wasted at the end of the day but would have been well spent if we had won), the second place we were a bit half hearted about so didn't bother. Anecdotally, from what I can tell through knowing various other people who have bought here, only around half bother with an inspection at all. Once your offer has been accepted and any attached conditions been met (e.g. subject to inspection) then it's binding. If you pull out you'll lose the lot. Best to arrange finance with your bank before hunting (i.e. get a loan agreed in principle) so that you know what your budget is and don't have to put in an offer which is subject to finance which again would be unattractive to a seller. Having just seen my parents and some close friends go through the house buying process in the UK I can't for the life of me fathom why it's such a complex system over there with chains, gazumping, gazundering, people pulling out left right and centre, and in some cases months and months elapsing between having an offer accepted and getting the keys to your new place. Even when it does go through everyone in the chain has to move on the same day so you're liable to be sitting around in a moving van for hours waiting for the existing owners to bugger off. It seems like a nightmare in comparison. The only benefit I can see from the UK system is that it makes it easier to buy a new place before taking the leap and selling your existing house. Here, unless you have an offer accepted which is subject to the sale of your existing place (not unheard of, especially in country areas, but as a seller I would find this very unattractive) or you can qualify for an expensive bridging loan (i.e. you'd be paying two mortgages at once) then you have to list and sell your place before hunting for a new one - so probably moving into rented accommodation for a bit. Other than that I'd vote for the Aussie (well, SA - I can't comment on other states but I'm pretty sure it's similar) process any day of the week. Best of luck with the purchase by the way - where are you looking?

I started a new thread as requested. Needs to be approved by a mod.

Thought I'd add a bit of an update to this thread as there's been a few milestones reached with regards to new tall buildings in Adelaide's CBD. Adelaide's tallest building the Adelaidean is now complete and its neighbour, the 118m student accommodation building on North Terrace, is taking shape and starting to look very nice: The redevelopment of the Adelaide Central Market which includes a 124m tower has been approved and construction will commence later this year: Not exactly a tall building at 65m but worth a mention is the new office building and shopping centre to be built on King William Street - this retains the 30s art deco facade of the Sands and McDougall building. Demolition has started now and construction will follow later this year. Finally, the 117m Sofitel Hotel on Currie Street is close to completion and is looking fantastic:

To what end? Why? By whom? We've had pandemics before which resulted in similar social distancing, border closures and quarantining measures - e.g. the Spanish Flu back in the early 1900s. Why this time round does there need to be a conspiracy afoot? What are the elite all doing in the world's empty city centres whilst the proles are all languishing at home watching Netflix? Because of social distancing and increased hand/cough/sneeze hygiene.

Things are pretty normal here in SA as rammygirl alluded - with the most noticeable impact for me being the reduced crowds at sports. But at least we still have sports - in fact I'm off to the cricket tonight with 20,000 other people. Offices are still open but working from home has become much more commonplace - I'm on a 50/50 office/home split which is a nice arrangement that I think will last long after Covid has died down. There's barely a mask in sight, even on public transport or in crowded places - whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a matter of opinion but at the moment there doesn't seem to be any Covid circulating outside of hotel quarantine so arguably they're not really necessary. Schools, childcare, shopping etc is all largely unaffected - although lots of universities have increased their online teaching presence considerably for the time being, with lectures and tutorials limited. Travel's been impacted obviously. We can't leave the country (well technically we could under certain circumstances but we'd never get back in) so there's always a worry that something will happen back in the UK that I won't be able to be around for. Interstate travel can be a bit patchy as in the couple of situations where Covid has leaked from hotel quarantine the internal borders have been closed whilst the contact tracing teams do their thing. All in all life is very bearable and I feel terrible for all of my friends and family back in the UK who've had to endure months of hardship - much of which seems to have been brought on by utter mismanagement of the situation from the get go. I disagree with the current Australian government on a multitude of issues but in terms of Covid management I'd give them a solid 9/10 - especially considering we've all be learning as we go along. State governments have all stepped up to the mark admirably as well. We continue to be a very lucky country.

Been a while since my last update but when someone opens an axe throwing bar it's probably worth a mention... From:

The second one is the new student accommodation building on the corner of North Terrace and Frome Road - that's already started, the piling's done and they're starting on the ground floor slab now. The first one is proposed for King William Street but that's about as far as it has got - as far as I know. The office that's currently on the site has a for lease sign up so they're obviously not planning construction imminently.

It looks good on cloudy days too

A little while since my last post but both the Adelaidean and Realm have now reached full height and are largely complete externally: (Pictures courtesy of the Sensational Adelaide development forum) The Adelaidean was subject to a increase in height during its construction and now sits at 138m, making it a clear 6m taller than the previous tallest building - Westpac House - as well as Realm. I would certainly argue however that Realm is the prettier of the two! The 115m Luminesque building on Currie Street is slowly taking shape - it is the left hand of the two buildings under construction is this photo and will certainly make an impact on the skyline from this approach into the city:

I'm from Brighton and have been living in Adelaide for 8 years now, I moved over with my then girlfriend (now wife) when I was 32. I love it here - as one of the above posts said it's definitely not Melbourne or Sydney in scale but it's still a very sizable city by UK standards and has a lot going on (especially right now as we're smack bang in the middle of festival season with Adelaide Festival, Fringe, WOMADelaide, V8 supercar racing and all sorts going on in the city centre). In terms of where to live - definitely don't rush into anything. Ideally you'd want a few weeks at least in a rental place fairly close to the city and then use that time to explore different areas on the weekends - there's beachy suburbs to the west, posh and leafy suburbs to the east, koalas galore up in the hills and plenty of pommies down south Different areas can give remarkably different lifestyles so it's well worth getting to grips with the place before you commit to anything. Where you work, how you want to commute/how long you're prepared to commute for and what sort of house you want to live in (i.e. heritage vs modern) will also play a big factor. Schools will be a thing too - many public (i.e. state) schools are zoned but it's not necessarily done by postcodes, a lot will have very specific zoning maps so it's worth checking with a school if you're interested in it. A lot of the time the data is on the school's website, otherwise this website should help: https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/education-and-learning/schools/choosing-a-school/school-zones The state schooling system here is generally very good and at least on par with (and arguably better than) the UK's. As in all cities some schools will have a better reputation than others but that tends to be in line with the area they are located in. There are some rankings on SA schools here: https://bettereducation.com.au but in my opinion, especially with primary schools, blistering academic performance isn't the sole indicator of a good school. Our local primary school sits around the middle of academic performance league tables but has a very good reputation with local families and excels in pastoral care. Private schooling seems to be a bigger thing here than it is in the UK - it's a genuine option for middle income families, although there are some very expensive schools too. It's worth bearing in mind that many of the more affordable private schools are church-affiliated so given Australia's arguably higher levels of religious conservatism than the UK you'd have to weight up the pros and cons depending on your own values. For example, finding out that sex education is often taught as part of religious studies rather than science or biology tends to make me a little wary of this route for my kids. A secular state education sits better with me. I'm not sure about the specifics of nursing recruitment but it's worth mentioning that the new Royal Adelaide Hospital completed in 2017 is probably one of the most advanced hospitals in the world and situated right in the middle of Adelaide's emerging biomedical precinct which in a few years time will include the southern hemisphere's only proton therapy unit. It would most likely be a great place to continue your career There are various other hospitals scattered around the metropolitan area so you should be OK for choice depending on where you end up living. Best of luck with it all - keep us updated!

I wouldn't be too put off by auctions. They're not my preferred method of buying (not that I have bought more than one house) but at least it's all out in the open and you know an agent can't play a game with you but telling you they've had higher offers elsewhere - you know exactly who is offering how much. They can be a bit intimidating but you can always get a proxy to vote on your behalf - at least you know they won't get caught up in the moment and bid more than you have to spend. We bid (and lost) at two auctions before buying our house by private sale, however we went to many more whilst we were house hunting and saw a few houses go for below their estimate - that's less likely to happen at a private sale. Overall the house buying process is much easier here compared to the UK as there are no chains. Most houses in metropolitan areas will be advertised for a four week period culminating in either an auction or close of offers. Once an offer has been accepted you generally have the keys four weeks later. I know people in the UK who have waited 6 months to get the keys after having an offer accepted because of problems with the chain. Seems like a silly system from that perspective. Good luck with the house hunt - it can be stressful but going to opens can be fun and a great way to nose around houses you might otherwise not get to see

I know this question has been asked before but I'm just trying to see if anyone's had any recent experience of travelling to the UK using only their Australian passport? I now have dual UK/Australian citizenship but my UK passport has expired and given the fact it's soon to be withered down from a 28 nationality passport to a single nationality passport I can't really see the point in renewing in when my Aussie passport will be fine for my travel needs in the future. I'm flying back for a 2 week trip in January with a return ticket - presumably I'll be fine entering as an Aussie tourist on my Aussie passport?

Just in case anyone else has the same question - I can confirm that there were no problems at all in me travelling on just an Aussie passport. I passed straight through the smart gates at Gatwick without a hitch.

Some more dicsussion (plus an excellent map ) on this topic here:

There have been some pretty significant fires in South Australia over the last few months - probably the most serious being the one on Kangaroo Island (somewhere in the region of half of the total area of the island has been burnt). However, South Australia has not (yet) been as badly impacted as the east coast - specifically New South Wales. It should be remembered that in Australia the threat of bushfire is real and likely to become more so as the climate warms. That said, it is important to distinguish between metropolitan and rural areas - the risk of bushfire is generally confined to the latter with metropolitan areas not usually at direct risk (although there have been some exceptions in the past where fringe metropolitan areas have been affected - the 2003 Canberra bushfires spring to mind). The further away from rural areas you live, the less likely the threat of fire is. The major impact to the cities such as Sydney and Adelaide has been smoke haze - this has been covered quite extensively on the news overseas. Adelaide has had a couple of days (or partial days) of noticeable smoke and the overall air quality has decreased during the fire season. Again, we have not been impacted anywhere like the extent to which Sydney has - the main impact that I have noticed other than occasional smoke has been a layer of fine black ash on outdoor surfaces, and getting black feet from walking barefoot on our floorboards. In summary, if you're planning to move to metropolitan Adelaide you won't really have much to worry about in terms of bushfires directly impacting you (certainly not to the extent that your house would be threatened). The further away from the main metropolitan mass of Adelaide you move, the higher your risk will be - including to some of the newer suburbs down south which are bounded by open land, or even places to the north like Gawler. If you move to the Hills or a rural area such as McLaren Vale, Barrossa, Clare etc then you should absolutely be prepared for the risk of bushfire - including accepting that you may lose your home (or worse) should the risk ever eventuate. A comprehensive bushfire action plan would be essential in these circumstances.

Welcome to the forum and best of luck with your move to Adelaide! Mot sure about the specifics around rentals in units or apartments. I always thought it would be landlord/building specific but maybe someone more knowledgeable can help on this one. I have good friends in Norwood and they love it - generally anywhere on the immediate eastern side of the city is considered a more upmarket place to live so you won't go wrong. Norwood has a nice centre with a UK-style high street/shopping strip (the Parade). If you could get within walking distance of that you'd appreciate it Re: private health and pregnancy. No - you'll still end up with a sizable out of pocket bill ($1000+) for having a baby in the private system. Plus, you'll also need to take into account any waiting limits before you can claim for certain things - we investigated private health cover when we were thinking of having a baby and I think most policies had a 12 month wait period from signing up before you could access any pregnancy services. We had out baby through the public system and couldn't have been happier with the experience. If you live in Norwood you'll probably end up at the Women's and Children's hospital in North Adelaide - it's the major hospital in SA for all things obstetric and pediatric so you won't go wrong. Side note: if you get classified as having a high-risk pregnancy you'll most likely be giving birth there anyway regardless of what private cover you have. We had a private room, great midwives and it didn't cost us a cent. The public system also covers all pregnancy-related ultrasound scans - and chances are you'll get them at a private hospital/provider anyway (we had all ours done at the private Calvary hospital). All blood tests are free through Medicare, regardless of whether they are pregnancy-related. GP visits you'll pay a small amount for (maybe up to $30 - but are free for kids). My personal view is that you should think carefully and do some research on whether you will truly need private health cover at all - lots of younger people are dropping out of the system as they feel a) it is not value for money and b) their needs are and will be covered by the public system. Because of this, premiums are rising and the value of the policies gets lower. And so the cycle repeats. My understanding of the benefits of private cover are reduced waits for elective surgery (i.e. joint replacements etc), being able to choose your surgeon/doctor/obstetrician etc (being used to the UK system that doesn't bother me at all) and being guaranteed a private hospital room. It's also important to note that even with top tier private cover you'll most likely end up with a bill after any hospital stay as many things just aren't covered (such as dressings etc). Another argument for private insurance is the 'extras' cover you get - such as optical, dental, physio etc. However, the extras cover is a sizable monthly expense payable over your entire lifetime and the odds are that if you funded these things out of your own pocket in full you'd end up spending nowhere near as much money overall as the total insurance premiums anyway. There are also limits for individual and lifetime claims for some things so even with good extras cover don't expect all your dental work to be 'free' for life. I think the sensible thing to do financially is to put aside the monthly cost of health insurance into a savings account and be very disciplined to never touch it. By the time you get older and need elective surgeries there'll be a very sizable pot there to fund any private ops you need - plus if you don't use it your kids will get it when you pop off. My wife and I have no privtae health cover - just ambulance cover for a hundred-odd bucks per year. We've been absolutely fine with the public system for the last 8 years and we're thousands of dollars better off for it. The public system here is great and covers all emergency care, non-elective hospital visits etc. Unless you're particularity precious about being in a private room or who you get as a surgeon or obstetrician etc (which let's face it, we're in a highly-advanced country - they're all going to be just fine), private health cover just seems like a massive scam to me - people think they're getting stuff for free but forget they pay several thousand dollars a year for it up front. I don't have any connection to either of those job areas unfortunately - but I'll ask around and report back if I hear of anyone Very best of luck with everything!

From: https://indaily.com.au/eat-drink-explore/the-forager/2019/11/27/mum-cha-brings-dumplings-to-rundle-street/