Our Pretty Money

My Mom ordered some Aussie currency before her recent trip here. When she showed people, they all commented on how pretty it was. Gusipedia recently told me (and I verified via the internet) that the money is actually plastic or specifically polymer.

Here, Jim is peaking through the clear plastic window of the $10

According to The Australian Gov website: "These notes provide much greater security against counterfeiting. They also last four times as long as conventional paper (fibrous) notes. At the same time, the polymer notes are cleaner than paper notes and easily recyclable." That explains the always pristine condition the money is in. If it got soiled, you could simply clean it with Windex. Under normal circumstances, they can't be torn either.

What about $1, you might ask? Well, that is a gold coin. Similar to the Sacagawea gold dollar.
We also have a $2 coin. Even more brilliant is that we don't have ANY pennies!! The smallest denomination of coin is 5cents. All prices are rounded, up or down, to the nearest 5cents. For as great as that is, I my loathing of the small coins continues. Now it's just worth more, 5cents instead of 1.
Big to little: fifty cent, twenty cent, ten cent, one dollar, 2 dollar and 5 cent coins

When Mum and Auntie were here, they started off really confused because the $2 coin is smaller than the $1 coin. "It's smaller, but worth more?" How could this be??
Our 50 cent piece is the biggest and quite an odd shape. I would show them the tiny 5cent coin...and it would be baffling. Just not quite coming together for them. Then, one time my Aunt asked, "So this is a nickel?" I was a little dumbfounded. To be quite honest, I never looked at it that way. We don't say nickel or dime. She then got smart, saying, "They five and ten cent you to death here." So cleaver, that one ;)