Use your debit and credit cards, and take a small amount of cash with you for each country (say $150). You can withdraw money at the ATM and use your credit card normally. This is the cheapest, safest and most convenient way to do it.
Dinner with one drink in a standard restaurant will be around $30-$35 in Australia. Depending on where you are going it will most likely be mild to cold.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.