Medicare: The Public Health System

It's only fitting that I write this post about doctors and Medicare from my bed, where I now sit feeling very sorry for myself with a throat that feels like it's been grated and a pesty coughing fit that arrives no less than every ten minutes!  And of course, being preggers there is nothing I can take!   So I'm not leaving the bed and have no intention of getting out of my pajamas today!  

To make things worse, Brad has had what can only be food poisoning all through the night.  He's had to drag himself into work but hopefully the worst of it has removed itself from one end or the other!  (Sorry, that's gross but I need you to get the full picture!)

So let's talk about Medicare!  This is the public health system across the country and something we are very lucky to have the benefit of.  Australia and Britain have a reciprocal agreement so because we have British Passports, we are entitled to use this service.  We do have to have private health care for the entirety of our visa but no private policy will cover maternity or childbirth within the first twelve months of arriving in the country.  I've ready many forums and reviews on the public health care and, Melbourne especially, is known for it's fantastic service so we're not worried!  In fact, I've spoken to people who have chosen to have their babies in a public hospital, rather than privately. 

So how it works...

The first thing to do is to sign up with Medicare, they have offices all over the city where you can just walk in and it took us less than five minutes to sign up.  We just needed to fill in a form and let them photocopy our passports, visa and drivers licences.  I think you can provide your NHS medical card instead of driver's licence if you don't drive.    This was a week day morning so might not be as quick on a Saturday.

Unlike the NHS, not everything is free on Medicare.   For most doctor visits, you will need to pay the doctor and then claim 85% of the cost back from Medicare.  However, there are some doctors that will do what is called Bulk Billing.  This means that they will not charge you anything and will bill medicare direct for the 85%.  Although they lose out on 15% of the fee, they do not have to worry with chasing patients for the money.  Some doctors will only Bulk Bill for the elderly and those on benefits.  Some will only bulk bill during certain hours.  And some will not bulk bill at all.

Also unlike the NHS, you may chose whatever doctor you would like, there are no rules about finding one within your borough.  This means you really can shop around and find the one you like best!   I did a lot of research and read some reviews on doctors and found a really great GP that I will take our baby to as well.  It really pays to research, research, research!   That's something I've learnt since we've been here.  Time is a luxury I've had over the past few weeks and the research has made a huge difference with everything from our doctor to our house and car.  

So because I'm pregnant, I had to see the doctor before being referred to a hospital.  Now the hospital does have to be in your area so I've been referred to the Monash Medical Centre.   I've been told its a teaching hospital and one of the best in Melbourne.  So far, so good.  I had two midwives at my booking in appointment.  They work in a way that all my appointments will be on the same day of the week so that I always see the same ladies.  They will hopefully be at the birth as well and then it will be them that visit me at home after Little Miss is born.

So all in all, a very good experience so far.  I feel much better now I know where we'll be having our baby and who will be looking after us along the way!  

Rental Application Accepted!

Finding a property in Melbourne is rumored to be a difficult process; we know this is true from our extensive research but somehow we got lucky!

Our very first application we put in was accepted.   We arrived on Monday and spent the week researching online, we picked the four best places and attended inspections on the Saturday.  After one cancelled inspection, one shocker and one average property, the fourth was what we'd been waiting for.

It's not a palace by any stretch of the imagination but it's big enough for two and a half people, has an outdoor space and the bath is white (we've seen bath tubs in every colour imaginable!).  It also looked the way it did in the pictures which was a surprise as most properties seem to be using photos taken ten years ago!

The reason we got lucky on this property was down to a few things... The place had just been listed so no one had been able to see it until that same day.  We arrived for the Inspection a few minutes early and the agent was already there.  We went straight in, showed our interest and got an application from her.  We got chatting to her about our situation and she seemed to take a shine to us.  We also showed interest in buying furniture off the current tenant which showed we meant business.  There was just one other couple there who also took an application form.   By now it was two minutes into the inspection time and the agent had done her job so off she went.  Lucky for us; not so lucky for anyone arriving to view the place after that.

So we knew that there was only one other applicant so we needn't offer a higher rent but had to be sure we provided as much ID and paperwork as possible.

It worked and the agent called Monday afternoon to say we'd been successful!  The agency we're dealing with is LJ Hooker and our contact, Cindy, has been a pleasure to work with.  Highly recommended!

So here's a few pics of our new home.  Moving day is 3rd May - can't wait!  The house is unfurnished so this will not be our furniture.

They call it a villa where its attached to other places - luckily we're on the end. 

Our lounge which is open plan into the dining/kitchen.  

Our kitchen/dining area opens to the courtyard 

The courtyard needs some attention but is a nice size and 

opens further onto communal gardens

Renting Property in Melbourne: The Search

Looking for somewhere to live in Melbourne was obviously the biggest task to tick off our list.  Luckily Brad came straight into a job so we thankfully didn't have to worry about that.  This is a long winded post but should give anyone in this situation all the info they need.  We would have loved to have all these details in one place when we arrived.

Knowing where Brad's office is made it easier to narrow down the areas we wanted to look at.  When we visited Melbourne in November 2012 we rented a car and spent a good few hours driving around various neighbourhoods.  Obviously you have to do your research as you can't tell just from driving through an area. One of the things we checked was where the South African shops are.  It sounds silly but it would mean that like minded people had picked that area and although we didn't end up near one, it gave us a starting point.   That and the fact that we did loads of town profile research online and of course spoke to locals about various areas.

Once you know what areas you're looking at, the next step is to hit the real estate websites.   The two we used the most were Domain and Real Estate.  Most of the estate agents advertise on these two but you'll find many of them have their own sites as well.  It's best to look in the morning and new properties will have red Just Added banners across them.  You'll see loads of places that have been listed for over a month, there's usually a reason for that.

When trawling these websites you will notice that most of them will advertise Inspection dates and times.  This is something we'd never experienced before.  Basically, the agent will unlock the house for 15 minutes only on the said Inspection date and everyone interested will rock up at the same time to check out the property.   I say that the agent will unlock the house because that is ALL they do.  They are not there to give you a guided tour or to answer any questions you have; they know as much about the property as you do.   We've learnt that rental agents don't get commission on properties they let so they don't go to too much trouble for you.

If you decide you'd like to apply for the house then you need to fill in the very detailed application form and provide plenty of evidence that you are who you say you are and that you can afford the rent etc.  If the property is great then there are likely to be many people applying.   This is why you need to try and gauge the situation during the Inspection.   If there are loads of people looking then it means you will have a lot of competition and offering a slightly higher rent might work in your favour.   Usually the good properties have Inspection times during the week so less people can visit.  Difficult or occupied properties will usually be shown on the weekends.

On the application form you will notice that you are signing your life away... you are agreeing to pay the bond within 48 hours of being accepted.   This means that you shouldn't be applying for more than one property at a time which of course makes house hunting even more difficult.  I'm sure there's ways around this and there's not much they could do if you refuse to take a property if you're accepted.  In Perth they avoid this by making you pay a weeks bond just to apply!

The application form and paperwork needed is quite detailed.  I've put the list below of what we had to provide.   Each piece of information you provide has a points value.  An application will not be looked at unless at least 100 points are reached.  However, if you don't provide bank statements or references then you have less of a chance than your opposition that does.

So the list below is the guideline from one of the agencies but they're all pretty much the same.  I figured that the more you provide, the better so I sent in every single thing!

 - Passport and Visa - 40 points
 - Last four rent receipts - 30 points
 - Photo ID - 20 points
 - Drivers Licence - 20 points
 - Medicare Card - 20 points (see more info here)
 - Copy of Birth Certificate - 20 points
 - Copy of a current phone/gas/water/other utility bills - 20 points
 - Current bank statements/payslips - 20 points
 - Written reference from previous landlord - 20 points

Obviously an agent would like to see that both of you are working however they're fine if one of you has a salary that is plenty to cover the rent.  In our case, Brad's salary is enough but I also provided my last three pay slips from London to show what kind of salary I will bring in when I do work.   We didn't advertise the fact that I was pregnant (big scarf)!

Something you will have to provide is two character references.   We used Brad's boss and a housemate/friend of mine from London.  We also put down the owner of our current temporary accommodation.  All three of these references were called so they are definitely thorough!  

Other advice we had was to take all paperwork with us and then fill in the application form during the Inspection.  Apparently some agents work on a first come, first served basis where they will do checks on the first good looking application they receive.

And then you wait...  the agent should call you either way but it takes a couple of days to find out if you've been accepted or not.

Another place to look for property is Gumtree where people will be trying to get out of their lease.   You need to really look every day for these and the good properties seem few and far between.  There seemed to be mainly house and room shares advertised on this site.

Getting Around: Public Transport

Living in London definitely stood us in good stead for most public transport systems around the world.  And as much as we liked to complain about the constant delays and unbelievable reasons for these delays, we were in fact rather spoilt.

In Melbourne things run on time.  Well they have so far.  Every bus, tram and train that we've been on has come at the exact minute the timetable promised us.

However, unlike London, the said trains, trams and buses don't run as often as we're used to.  This means you have to plan your route very carefully and if you're doing a multi-legged journey then there might be a little waiting in between legs.

We spent last Saturday house hunting.  We decided against hiring a car for the day as we figured we should get to know the public transport system.  What a mistake.   We left the flat at 8am and got back around 5pm after seeing just four properties.  Advice for anyone in the same boat - HIRE A CAR!!!

Because we don't have mobile data to spare we planned the entire journey meticulously using the TripGo app on the wifi at home.  We didn't even have a map of the area so had to rely on my very detailed hand written directions which turned out to be more than bit sketchy.  We ended up taking 'short cuts' and then running like mad for a bus that we knew would be on time and wouldn't be passing again for another hour.

If we could have, we would have just hailed a taxi but those seem to be rather scarce in the suburbs.  So old preggers here had to do a few really fast waddles around the neighbourhood in the blazing sun, wearing just my trusty Havaianas - again, I repeat HIRE A CAR!

After that little moan I will tell you that the system is actually really great.   The network seems to be large enough to get you close enough to anywhere you want to go and it's also really cheap.   They work with the same system as the Oyster cards in London, only they're called Myki's.   You top up as much as you need and then touch in and out every time you travel.   You can travel for up to two hours on any mode of transport in zone one and it will cost you just the one fare which is $3.50.  There is a daily cap of $7 on weekdays and $3.50 weekends.  Melbourne is only split into two zones so if you're travelling just in zone two then it will be even cheaper.  I believe there are Myki Pass's  which will obviously be cheaper for those travelling to and from work but I don't know enough to tell you about them yet.  You can look here for more info.

The staff have all be really friendly too, they don't seem to be responsible for passengers paying their fares so they're not grumpy so-and-so's like the London drivers.  We had one driver who didn't know which stop we meant when we asked him where to get off so he spent a minute on his phone trying to find out where to drop us - what a sweetie!!

You can see  more about buying and topping up your Myki card here.    It costs just $2 for the card and then you top up whatever amount you want at any 7Eleven or station.

Melbourne's Coffee Culture

You've only got to spend a couple of hours in Melbourne to note just how much Melbournians love coffee and its not like they enjoy coffee, no no no... they LOVE coffee. Melbourne is obsessed with coffee,so much so that they are playing host to the international coffee expo this year. Every second shop on the street is a coffee shop.  No big coffee chains here but rather cool, chic and trendy independently owned stores, each with their own individual flare when it comes to interior decor.   And most importantly everyone has their own favorite shop and coffee blend.   Something you'll find out very soon after starting work in Melbourne is that a lot of meetings are held over a coffee so be prepared for the heinous task of walking outside in the glorious sunshine before ducking into an awesome little coffee shop to try out one of their many many blends of coffee.

   

This article from Weekend Notes gives some interesting info on the types of coffee shops around.  From those that do just the traditional 'black' and 'white' to those that offer all the trimmings and flavours known to man! 

We need a month of Sundays to explore the different cafes just in St Kilda but we have three more weeks here and we're damn sure going to try!  

image links: 1  2  3  4

Walking in Melbourne: an adventure in itself

Having no car and no idea which buses, trams or trains would offer me the shortest/ quickest route to the office,  I did what any good Londoner would do when the trains inevitably stop working. I looked up the simplest route and walked the 2.5km to the office. The fact that the sun was beaming down and it was a balmy 24 degrees made the walk just that much more pleasant! And the fact that Loryn accompanied me 3/4 of the way like a proud mom taking her kid to school made the walk feel effortless.

The first thing that anyone coming to Melbourne or Australia in general will notice, whether driving or walking around the city, is that the traffic lights take foooooorrrrrreeeeevvvveeeerrrrr to go through the rotation. Add the crisscrossing trams to the equation and the walk took around 25 minutes. 15 of which were spent just waiting for the familiar tick ticking of the traffic lights to let you know that its relatively safe to cross the street. I say relatively safe as you still need to watch out for the trams which run down the middle of the main roads.  These 'rhinos on skateboards' posters on all tram stops give you an idea of what we're dealing with...

So the first time you cross the road you might have a mini heart attack.  You'll find yourself wanting to hurl abuse at the driver trying to mow you down when its your turn to cross the street, but he also has a green light and although you have right of way as a pedestrian, he might or might not actually stop...

Starting work and the admin involved

Waking up at the crack of dawn after a restless night suffering from crippling jet lag and walking around with blood shot eyes is the perfect way to make a good first impression...
In the build up to the big move, I was super excited about the new adventures ahead and I was really looking forward to sliding into the typical laid back Aussie style of working, but now that the day had finally arrived I felt like a kid on my first day at school all over again. Even though I had already made two trips out to Australia before the move and I knew all the staff members very well (mainly because I had personally interviewed most of them for their jobs!) I still felt a little nervous of the prospects which lay ahead.

Apart from the walk to the office which is just off St Kilda road, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful, so I'm not sure what I was too stressed about. Even though I am still working for the same company there was still the usual first day tasks to complete.  Things like signing a new contract and completing new employee forms is all pretty standard stuff, but there are a few things to look out for. I guess some of these can be done before you arrive in Australia so make sure you know what your company is going to do for you and what you have to do yourself.

Firstly, you need to have a Tax File Number (this is the equivalent of a UK National Insurance number) which the tax office uses to track all your tax payments for as long as you work and earn in Australia. This can be done online and should be done before setting up your Super fund (see below). The bank also asks for this number but its fine to open your account and get back to them with the TFN.  Bear in mind that tax in Australia is higher than the UK so get used to that idea before you leave!

The other thing you will need is a Superannuation fund,  I think Wikipedia explains this well...

Superannuation in Australia refers to the arrangements which people make in Australia to have funds available for them in retirement. In Australia, superannuation arrangements are government-supported and encouraged, and minimum provisions are compulsory for employees.^[1] For example, employers are required to pay a proportion of an employee's salaries and wages (currently 9%) into a superannuation fund, but people are encouraged to put aside additional funds into superannuation. The minimum obligation required by employers is set to increase to 12% gradually stepping annually from 2013 to 2020.^[2]

There are plenty of websites which offer comparisons between Super funds and I think they are all pretty much alike. The key thing to look out for your Super is the fees. All funds have compulsory management fees etc, but these rates vary quite a bit and most sites tell you to go with the cheapest funds you can find. Most Super funds can be taken out online,so get browsing.  We've gone with Australian Super which came highly recommended.


And then you can get back to your actual job!