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New Zealand Healthcare

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In an attempt to keep things interesting and give me a broader perspective of life here in New Zealand, my body decided to give itself a bacterial infection. In my foot. No idea how, but within a few hours it looked like a red and angry balloon.

Cue my attempt to access New Zealand healthcare having done absolutely no research into this (given my rapid departure over here). I have to say, luckily for me and my foot, the whole process has been remarkably simple. Not to mention cost effective.

First stop: Pharmacy. Amazing (my sister is a pharmacist so I already knew how great they were, but nice to see that it is universal). She gave me a free antihistamine to prevent me from cutting my own foot off to stop the burning, confirmed it definitely needed medical attention and gave me directions to the walk in centre where I would get it seen the quickest.

Second Stop: Medical Centre. Again, excellent service. Put me on IV antibiotics straight away and then arranged a follow up for the next day. All for the sum of NZ$77 (around £40, or US$65).

Third Stop: back to the pharmacy again to fill my prescription for a week of oral antibiotics. Prescriptions here seem a bit more expensive than back home, at around NZ$23. But if it stops my foot falling off, then great.

So, overall, the entire cost of getting my infection under control came to NZ$100. If I have any US followers, I would imagine they simply can’t get their heads around being able to rock up unregistered and get that level of treatment (not using any insurance cover here either) for that price. All done with amazingly friendliness and grace too, which is always priceless.

A giant thumbs up then to the New Zealand Health Service (but thumbs down to its native bacteria which tried to kill me).

Introduction

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About eight weeks ago, a ball started suddenly rolling that has found me leaving a stable job, upping sticks and moving from my nondescript town in England to Christchurch, New Zealand. Needless to say, the preparation time for what can only be considered a momentous, life-changing event was fairly limited.

It has, however, given me an unexpected opportunity to focus on my writing full time, if only for a little while. Where this will ultimately lead I don’t know, but for now I am simply embracing each day for whatever it is.

So, I find myself here for the second time in my life, having first visited Christchurch about nine years ago. That was pre earthquake times and to say it is now a completely different city is somewhat of an understatement. Strange too, that I am here in a non-standard capacity. I don’t have the transient outlook of a backpacker, approaching every sight as an experience to be filed away as a memory before moving on. As it is also unlikely I will be moving on before July, I don’t fall into the slightly more grown up ‘tourist’ category either. Until I get something more concrete than making up worlds whilst in coffee shops, I don’t really classify as a typical worker either.

Hence I find myself trying to fit in to a city that seems just as unsure of itself as I do.

Wide, four lane roads often are shut down to a single carriageway, with the odd car passing here and there. Everywhere rings with the sound of rebuilding but very little actually looks like it has made it to the other side. Entire blocks have been flattened with occasional buildings in the middle remaining as stark and proud survivors.

So, I’ve started this blog to document my time here. It’s not just from a travel perspective, but also to cover my writing as well as my fascination with all things productivity related. A bit of a mish-mash then, rather than driven and focussed but that doesn’t matter to me so much right now. My life and home no longer fit into a nice neat box, so I don’t see why this should either.