Oops... Broken Toe!

Jeff went off to the supermarket last Sunday, got out of the car and, stubbed and broke his toe on a bollard!!!! I thought he was whinging on far too much until the toe started to swell dreadfully.Whisked him off to A&E in Caloundra where we were dealt with promptly and efficiently.  Healthcare is similar in some ways to the UK.  On arrival to Oz, you apply for Medicare and you're issued with a card which you produce on each attendance at any doctor's surgery (you don't need to keep to the same one and can see any doctor you wish in any practice you wish). For those visits, there is no charge.  Hospital stays accrue fees but there is private cover available there which we will need to think about.
The major difference here in Oz is dental care. None of it is free; even for Oli.  We have taken out a private policy which covers us for dental care, but that still doesn't make it free!  I remember teaching class-rooms of kids in the UK with those colourful braces on their teeth.  We would have to pay heavily for those here: they cost - quite literally - thousands of dollars!  A dental check-up alone in Australia is around $130.  I have now become increasingly fussy about teeth-brushing and flossing to avoid having any work done.


Anyways, because of Jeff's 'injury' he's been home for the week; and what a long week it's been(!). Not helped by some dreadful rain which caused flooding up and down the coast.  The schools stay open though and Oli and I waded out of school bare-foot on a couple of days.  Thankfully, the ankle deep water is as much as we experienced here in Mooloolaba, but our beaches are a mess: full of debris washed down from the rivers.  I took a run along the promenade today and the beaches are closed because of the dangers of swimming with all the flotsam.  The forecast is good for next week though so short-lived and it's nothing like last summer's Queensland floods which everyone was concerned about.  The Queensland residents obviously think of the devastation the floods caused whenever the rain starts coming down.  We are in our 'summer' here in Queensland which translates to 'hot and wet'. It doesn't rain all the time though and doesn't really stop us from doing what we plan to do.