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Here in the more remote parts of Camp,  hard currency isn't much use. We don't have access to a store or social club unless we undertake a difficult overland journey. (Though a road is now being built so we will finally be able to reach a small store at Port Howard or Fox Bay, O  bliss...)

When we visit town we have to adjust to handling coins and notes. This feels strange at first. Most payments are made by cheque for goods and supplies etc delivered to us by sea or air, and nearly all stores in town offer credit accounts. The Falkland Islands Company even offers its own credit card,  which may be used in any of their retail outlets or in the Upland Goose Hotel.

The value of the Falkland pound is equal to that of British sterling, 100 pence to one pound, and both types of currency are in circulation in the Islands. The coins are of the same values as sterling, except that as yet there is no Falklands £2 coin. Notes are of various denominations - five, ten, twenty and fifty pounds etc.

Our coins are very attractive, and popular with visitors. Mint sets may usually be purchased from the Treasury in Stanley, and special coins are sometimes minted to celebrate important events.

The pictures on this page will give you some idea of our currency. The penny or 1p coin depicts Gentoo penguins, the 2p carries an Upland goose, and the 5p bears a seagull. On the twenty pence coin there's the good old sheep, on whose back the Islands were founded - maybe this should now show a squid... The fifty pence piece is a reminder of earlier (pre conservation awareness) times and shows the long-extinct Warrah, a wolf/fox type creature. The pound coin bears the Falkland Islands crest, of which the motto is 'Desire the Right'. This motto appears around the side of the coin.

All coins show Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on their flip sides. The five pence and ten pence are now smaller than the original coins, and have milled edges, while the rest apart from the pound coin have plain edges.

Falkland Island notes vary in colour, but have the same basic design - all depict penguins as well as carrying the Queen's head of course and the Islands' crest. I haven't got examples of all of them, sorry! For example, a fifty pound note is a rare beastie for me...   There used to be a pound note in use,  and even a fifty pence one. The reverse side shown below is that of the twenty pound note, depicting  Government House and Christ Church Cathedral.