Ever since I was 16, sitting in a hotel lobby, putting my hand down the back of the couch and coming up with $7 in HKD, I have been fascinated with finding foreign coins here in NZ and elsewhere. From swapping my NZ for Pacific Island coins during games of Euchre and Poker with the boys and swapping mine for foreign from the car-park fees of the car-boot sale I helped run. And traveling to Europe and the Middle East, seeing their respective currencies in action and collecting there. Also, hopping over the ditch with collected aussie coins to exchange for notes. Now its visiting shops and service stations and banks in the Manawatu and greater area swapping and donating for and liberating wonderful "pieces of eight". But that's not all - wikipedia is my friend - I get to research the coins on the interweb finding out all the intricacies of currency and their history.
