Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Have you got any lobsters floating around in there?
















Like I said, looks like monopoly money, right?! With all of the different colors, there are different names that go along with some of the bills - $20 = lobsters, $50 = pineapples, $100 = greenies (sorry to not be able to show you a picture of a hundo - but probably comforting to know that I'm just as broke in Sydney as I am in NYC) :)

The good thing about Aussie money is it was the 1st country to introduce polypropylene polymer notes - so it's more plastic-y vs paper-y, and can actually go through the wash.

I decided to look up who's on each bill too - to give you a little history lesson (you know, in the spirit of learning something new everyday): $5 feature Queen Elizabeth II & the Parliament House on the back. $10 feature Banjo Patterson (famous Australian bush poet, journalist & author) and Dame Mary Gilmore (another famous author). $20 has Mary Reibey (Englishwoman who was transported to Sydney as a convict, but went on to become a successful business woman) and Rev. John Flynn (Presbyterian minister and aviator who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, or the world's first air ambulance). $50 features David Unaipon (Australian Aboriginal preacher, inventor & writer) and Edith Cowan (the 1st woman elected as a representative in an Australian parliament). As for the $100 - Nellie Melba (Int'l Opera singer sensation) and Sir John Monash (Australian military commander in WWI).


I appreciate the equal showing of both sexes on the bills vs our dead presidents.


















Here are some of the coins - they have .05, .10, .20, .50 coins (all silver) and $1 & $2 coins (goldies).

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