G'day from Australia

[deyanne 0]

Slang allert! What the heck does "the full bottle" mean???

vines queen.....sorry...

full bottle means having full knowledge of a situation etc..... so by doing lots of research on lapbanding while waiting a fair wait it seems ....i should be very knowledgeable on it by the time i get one fitted....

struth stone the crows.....cobber, digger maaaaaaaaate.....hahaah us aussies have a great language....

[rachel 0]

Hi Dee,

For some reason I didn't get this message - I've just come across it.

So,you've had your appt - how'd it go?

I had surgery on 11th Feb on Medicare with no catch. It took about 18 mths all up. Surgeons, dieticians, psychs, endocronology(diabetes etc), fills EVERYTHING is free.

Let me know how it went.

Take care,

Rachel.

hi rachel, Brissy gal

im also from Perth, and am going for dr appointment on 13 april.....was nervous as anything just making the phone call.....hahahah.

Dee

[rachel 0]

Hi Dee,

I've just read all the posts from you - sorry I haven't got back but I didn't realise they were there.

Ask me anything you want to know.

Take care,

Rachel.

[deyanne 0]

Hi Rachel, thanks for the response...... I had to postpone my appointment had car trubble and couldnt get to the city, so now i have to wait another month for the next appointment....oh well gives me time to explore things a bit more,

so with all the appointments you said, how often did you have to have appointments, did you have to go on a diet for them to prove you can/cant lose weight.

i live in small country town (only live in york ) so will have to travel to perth each time, but that no big deal do it all the time hahah

I will be seeing Dr Kevin Dolan have you heard of him, at joondalup hospital

did you go to a few drs not that there that many in perth anyway....

it seems unbelievable that there are no expenses....hey you american girls should come to aust for the ops then ....

im so impatient i want this now, but cant afford to coff up the dough, so will have to bide my time and wait like a good little vegimite hahaahah

cheers Dee

[bobby_hamrick 0]

Is OUTBACK really Aussie food? ??

[Zoe 6]

it seems unbelievable that there are no expenses....hey you american girls should come to aust for the ops then ....

No kidding! Even if our insurance won't cover a single penny, if the surgery costs AU$13,000, that's about US$10,000 -- throw in another $1000-1500 for plane fare, and it's still a lot cheaper than most US docs. Plus you get the Great Barrier Reef and all that sunshine. All aboard the Aussie express!

[rachel 0]

The appts are about every 2 mths, Dee.

I wasn't asked to do any dieting - only fast from 10pm the night before.

I find the whole dieting to prove you can lose weight thing a bit strange. If we could lose weight unassisted we wouldn't be sitting in that bloody chair!!!

My GP recommended the surgery for me, after that I dealt with all the same people at SCGH.

I think the 18 mth wait is a good thing. It gives you a chance to try to get your head around it, and also it's some effort for the reward. The fact that we get it all free is amazing (I was 157 kg, now 145 - I don't know if that has anything to do with it) - anyone who complains about paying taxes obviously hasn't been to hospital recently. I've been twice in the last couple of years, and my husband once, and the level of care is exceptional. I know 2 people who have had this op privately, and the public patients get much better follow-up service, fills for free etc.

Take care,

Rachel.

[rachel 0]

How much is the surgery, specialist appts, fill etc in US ,Zoe?( How's your crazy doggy?)

Not sure what you mean,Bobby. The outback is remote Australia - desert etc

[deyanne 0]

thanks rachel....i know .....thats why they call it the lucky country......hahahaahah

yeh if we could all lose weight easily we wouldnt be going thru this process......derrr on them....haha....

with all those appointment times can see how quick it would come about....

bobby the outback is this big beautiful country of ours.....in the remote regions, deserts, small country towns.....it not classed as outback for the cities ......

we sure have some strange words here....but then we is upsidedown compared to everywhere else hahaahahahaahah take care all....Dee

[vinesqueen 2]

There is a chain of theme restaurants in the US (and maybe Canada) call The Outback. Nothing fancy, but nice places.

[rachel 0]

Hi VQ ( I'm not sure how one addresses the Queen of Vines),

I guess the theme of Outback restaurants is Aussie. What's the food like? I never think of us as having really developed our own style of food - but that's just ignorance. We have alot of Asian influences in our food. YUM.

Take care,

Rachel.

[vinesqueen 2]

/e giggles!

Yeah, sorry, I thought for sure I described the place! Doh! My only excuse is that I got really good marks on an accounting test--much better than I thought I would do! Huzzah!

The restaurants are decorated with things like digeridos (sp?), and boomerangs and bright paintings in the native style. The walls have wood panneling and has a very casual feel, like you could just tramp in all dusty from a walkabout.

The food is nothing special, but it's nice. Foods are prepaired fairly simply, no fancy sauces or styles. They serve steaks (land rovers), chicken (Alice Springs chicken) and sea food (shrimp on the barbie). I certianly don't notice anything that is asian inspired, but I"m from Seattle and San Fransicso, so I probably have a different view of what is asian inspired verses someone from Pocatello Idaho...

[deyanne 0]

oh for sure rachel.....i think the only aussie thing is the barbeque...which in australia you american girls is totally outside.....and contending with the damn flies and mosquitoes hahahaahah....and ya gotta make sure the meat is really burnt....

it the only time the men folk seem to bond around food.....but they think they so clebba cooking on the bbq....but if ya really think about it it usually us stoopid women who prepare the food, take it out to them, remind them to turn the meat.....as we handing them another endless can of beer.......it is us that brings out the salads, them to put the meat on the table and grunt and groan of wot a great bbq they cooked....then it surely not them doing the dishes and cleaning up hahahahahaahahah Men .....

that about the only aussie meal i can think of......like Rachel says heaps of asian/indian and italian food here in aus....

we aint all like crocodile dundee.....hahahaahahah

[deyanne 0]

vines queen......a walkabout is very rare and only for the aboriginal population....(it a cultural thing for them to do)....when us other aussies attempt to go on a walkabout it usually ends in death....coz most tooo silly to really take note of the countryside around them which is very dry and hot and hardly any Water....it usually a touristy thing to attempt.....2 guys just recently died from travelling on the dirt roads in the out back here in western australia....they perished in the desert with no Water ....they walked to look for some but headed in the wrong direction and if they had walked about the same distance in the other direction they would have found some...poor buggers...so it is not a highly recommended activity unless you really know wot you are doing and are very organised with heaps and heaps of water....

aussie food tastes so much better with heaps of good old dead horse on it.....( that Tomato sauce or ketcup in your language hahahaahahaha) .

cheers Dee

[vinesqueen 2]

Ah ha ha ha ha, I believe then that all men are the same! We have that same thing here! The only time my ex-husband would ever cook anything was when we were having bbq. He would think that just because he had dangly bits he could BBQ better than me.

I just googled "australian food" and came up with a few sites. It looks like basic English food, which makes sense, but with some very unique twists.