| Hi Pixie!
The HbA1c test is a totally different test from the one that you get from your monitor.
What the HbA1c test measures is the amount of glyciation of your red blood cells (glucose sticking to the red blood cells). In theory this will give you a 90 average. The caveat is that the vast majority of your red blood cells are four to six weeks old, so this test is really a weighted average, skewed to the previous month/six weeks.
The value of this test is that it looks at the broader picture of your glucose management. You cannot test often enough using a home meter to see all the variations in your BG levels.
This particular thread began with a differenece between a home test A1c kit and the lab that Jakes MD used. Of course, those two tests were about a month apart. (FWIW: The test kit is from Biosafe, which is available through Amazon.com) I test this monthly on the first of each month (just finished doing my June test a few minutes ago).
There are probably similar services in Austrailia, but I am not familiar with them.
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Be well, do good work, and keep in touch [Garison Keilor]
Ronin (a.k.a, George N. Wells, CPIM)
Tandemist/Lay Theologian
Enjoying Life and Learning about myself everyday.
Pre-D -- Not on Insulin  (yet) 
For Cholesterol though:
2500 mg Niacin
10 mg Zocor
2008 cycling miles: 5372 (29 Dec)
2009 Cycling Miles: 4843 (20 Nov)
Fasting C-Peptide 1.4 (02 Oct 08) HbA1c's:
01 July 2008 -- 5.0%
02 Oct 2008 -- 5.4%
01 Apr 2009 -- 5.6%
01 Oct 2009 -- 5.6%
01-Nov 2009 -- 5.4%
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