More permanent residency fun - we have Medicare cards!  You don't really think about free healthcare until you don't have it anymore.  As Canadians, it's just something we're entitled to and I never had to consider otherwise.  Then we came over here.  For the first few years, the insurance we bought through the university took care of things.  Once you're no longer on a student visa, it's your own responsibility to uphold the conditions of whatever visa you're on, one of these conditions being hospital cover.  We've been paying for private health insurance now for the last couple of years and it pretty much only covers hospital admission. We've had to pay for GP visits, prescriptions, and anything else out of pocket.  This week, Jeremy and I both paid visits to the local Medicare offices with our passports, visa grant letters, and Medicare applications and left with a little printed out piece of paper with a number on it.  This will be our Medicare 'card' until the official versions arrive in the mail.  Pretty cool to have that sorted!

Much more excitingly, less than two weeks until an amazing weekend of fun with some interstate visitors!  Lisa (our most loyal visitor) will be arriving August 8th, and Claire not far behind her on August 9th.  We have decided to become Adelaide tourists and booked some tours through the CBD.  Not just any tours though...

To begin with, we have the chocolate walking tour of Adelaide.

The 3 hour tour starts at Rundle Park and finishes in Rundle Mall, from 10am on Saturday. The tour visits 6 different venues with a chocolate soup break half way through. 

All chocolate tastings and the hot chocolate break are included in the price along with discounts at a number of the venues if you decide that you need to take some home with you for further research. 

Apart from tasting all kinds of high quality chocolate, and meeting lots of interesting people, you will learn: 

The deep, dark, mysterious, and interesting history of chocolate.

How chocolate is crafted. From the cacao tree to the cocoa bean, through the hands of the chocolate maker and chocolatier.

How to tell good chocolate from bad using sight, smell, feel, and the ingredients list.

How to taste and appreciate chocolate. From the first smell, through the first bite, the taste as it melts in the mouth, and the final notes.

Lots of other practical tips such as how to store chocolate, how long you can store it, how to tell when it's past best and much more.

This tour should finish at about 1 pm, which gives us a chance for a little break before our next tour: the old and new wine bars of Adelaide tour:

The 2.5 to 3 hour tour starts at 3:30pm on Saturday from King William Street in the city. The tour visits four different venues showcasing the old and the new of the Adelaide wine bar scene.

On this tour you will:

Visit 4 different wine bars where you will learn about their historical significance and interesting stories of establishment. Plus a bonus underground and above ground tour dating back to the beginning of South Australia’s history that is normally off limits.

Learn about the history of South Australian wine and our watering holes. We might be the city of churches, but on the corner opposite you’ll find a pub.

Some fabulous nibbles are included in the tour price, along with the opportunity to taste some wine with expert commentary, however to keep the price down drinks are not included at every venue.

You will be able to purchase and sample the wine & beers at a discounted price when no tasting is offered.

We actually have a fairly large group attending these tours - as well as Lisa, Claire and myself there are quite a few other friends so that should be lots of fun!  Once the wine bar tour has concluded, we will see if we are up for dinner, or just full of chocolate and wine.  If dinner is part of our plan, I'm hoping to head to Ruby Red Flamingo in North Adelaide. Jeremy and I have gone there on two occasions, both times with visitors to Adelaide (including Jeremy's Uncle Don and Aunt Lyn) and it has been delicious and entertaining.  I love visitors - such a good excuse to explore the city :)