Australian coin confusion

Australia has 6 coins in active use: 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar, 2 dollars. There used to be 1 cent and 2 cents coins (the 2 leftmost coins in the picture above), but they were phased out in 2006 due to low use.

The 20 cent and 50 cent coins are actually larger than both the 1 and 2 dollar coins, which is the opposite of U.S. coins, where it is the larger the value, the larger the coin. So at first, I thought the 20 cent Australian coin was for 20 dollars.

So on our first day in Australia, when I was paying for 60 minutes of internet time at $5, at first, I gave the cashier the 20 cent coin…hee hee…

The dollar bills here are also very different - really colorful and have a slightly plastic feel to them. There's a fancy clear, see-through mark for counterfeit as well.

They make our U.S. bills seem so boring.