I mean, American money is so familiar, that I forget that there are other ways to do it, you know? People here have openly laughed at me when I tell them we have a 25cent piece, but isn't it equally bizarre to have a 20cent piece? And what's all this about dollar and two-dollar coins? I mean, I've seen the odd Sacajewea, but I wouldn't say that it's common.
So here are their coins! Starting at the top left, they are: $.05, $.10, $.20, $.50, $1.00, $2.00. (Interestingly, they don't have any pennies; instead, they just round the total to the nearest 5 cents. I think it's a great plan, too. Stupid pennies.) To the left are what I would consider the "tails" of the coins. You can't see them too clearly, and for that I apologize, but I did my best with the equipment at hand. Now, in true tricky Australian-ness, the tails on the dollar coin changes pretty regularly, and possibly on other coins, too, but I just can't be sure. This particular one features kangaroos, but I've seen other images as well. I guess it's similar to the state quarters back in the states.
To the right, I took a picture of the heads of all the coins, and lo! it's all the same person! "Then, Jo, why did you bother to take a picture of all of them? Isn't that rather silly?" No, dear readers! While it is true that every coin features your friend and mine, Queen Elizabeth II, they are each subtly different. Once again, I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures, but if you look very closely, you will see that the Queen's image is different based on her age at the mint of the coin. For example, the center 50 cent piece (in the middle) features a young and elegant queen, while the 20 cent piece (top right), portrays the queen much closer to her present age. Fascinating, no?
The paper money is equally intriguing. Their bills fall into the same categories as ours, excluding the $1 bill, as it is unnecessary thanks to thier advancement in coinage. The first thing that you notice is the color (colour). I have been told by many people on many occasions that US money is boring because it's all the same color (colour); I try to assure them that we are branching out and that the new $10 bill is quite exciting, but they're just not buying it. And who can blame them? They have money shot in Technicolor (Technicolour?) for crying out loud! 
Once your eyes adjust to the vivid color (colour) scheme, I would like to draw your attention to the size difference between bills. I had a really hard time with this at first. Each bill is its own length, so that when you have wads of cash, you can easily discern the $100s, or "greenies" as they're called, from the far inferior $5s. Ok, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't part of the fun of money that you can hide $1s in a stack of $20s? Exhibit A: My Cousin Vinny; where would the comedy have been if, when J.T. tried to hustle Mona Lisa and Vinny, they could easily discern the different bills by size from a distance? But I digress...
I just had a thought: Is there a concern about getting the bills sizes confused when they are all drastically different colors (colours)? I think I need to investigate this further. Perhaps there's more to it.
I wish that I could tell you fun things about all of the people featured on these notes, but I have no idea who they are. Most of them don't even have names on them, which I think is pretty silly. I wouldn't be surprised if most Australians didn't know who they were, either. They all look pretty important, though. I mean, they made it onto money, which is more than most people can say.
And finally, here is the coveted 100 dollar bill, the elusive "greenie". "Jo, you're loaded! Why do you have all this cash lying around?" Well, friends, that is because, while the hotel insists on direct deposit, the steakhouse just hands me an envelope of cash each week. Classy. Anyway, check out the little plastic window in the bottom left-hand corner. They all have them, all different shapes. Quirky, no? Such funny money.
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