Aussie Money

The national currency in Australia is the Australian dollar.  The denominations are $100, $50, $20, and $10 notes. 

The 'one-hundred' is green, the 'fifty' gold - the 'twenty' red, the 'ten' blue, and the 'five' pink.  Each note pictures a famous Australian. 

The notes are made of a plastic polypropylene polymer and can't be torn intentionally or by normal wear and tear. 

And as a bonus - it's all waterproof!

The money is almost too pretty to spend, but with the current foreign exchange rate ($1.00 US = $71.36 AUS).   

That's like having a 25% off coupon for everything I buy anywhere in the country! 

I'm going shopping!

Exchange rates change, so check the exchange rates before booking your flight for a spending spree down-under.

Along with the Aussie dollar, the currency includes coins worth $1, $2, and 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents. 

The one-dollar coin is gold and similar to the quarter but heavier. 

Two-dollar coins are smaller than the one-dollar and slightly larger than a penny but three times as heavy.

The silver coins are sized proportionally to their value.  And, there are NO pennies Aussies got rid of them in the '60s.

You never pay extra for sales tax because it's already calculated in the merchandise price, so you only ever pay what's on the sales ticket. 

But if something costs $4.99 and you pay with a $5.00 note, don't expect a penny back. 

Counting money is the same, but you need to remember the Aussie coins look different than those in the US.

So, you can imagine my confusment when my bus fare was $2.40, and I gave the driver two gold coins and two twenty-cent coins, like below and he looked at me as if something was wrong.

 

I kept thinking that the $1 gold coin should be smaller than the $2 gold coin.

And finally realized I was giving him two $2.00 coins which added to $4.40 instead of $2.40.

To me, at first glance, they looked alike. 

Each time I overpaid, the driver smiled, gave me a $2 coin back, and asked, "Visiting?"

(Yeah, how did he know?)

Australia is a constitutional monarchy.  Its elected Head of Government is a Prime Minister who governs within a parliament, and the Queen of England is the sovereign who reigns but does not rule.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's official jeweler designed the currency, which is probably why the Queen is on the front of all Aussie coins, not to mention so pretty.

 

Australian dollars come in vivid colors, and to me, look like Monopoly money.  But be very careful, because it's not!

Queens . . .

Waterproof money . . .

No pennies . . .

I'm NOT in Kansas.