The Time Change is A'Comin'

Here are the time zones in Australia. When standard time is in effect, as indicated above, we are between 8 and 10 hours ahead of UTC (basically London with Daylight Savings time off there).



Between October 2, 2016 and April 2, 2017, Daylight Savings time is in effect and the time shifts as shown below.

Notice that Western Australia, the Northern Territories and Queensland do not change time, only the states and territory (ACT) in the southeast shift. Thus, we are still 10 hours ahead of UTC while we are in Queensland and the time difference between Washington DC and us stays at the moment at 14 hours.

Time zones in the US work the following way.

From West to East: Hawaii-Aleutian Time (HAT)  Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HAST) (UTC-10) Hawaii-Aleutian Daylight Time (HADT) (UTC-9) Alaska Time (AST) Alaska Standard Time (AKST) (UTC-9). Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT) (UTC-8).

Pacific Time (PT)  Pacific Standard Time (PST) (UTC-8) Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) (UTC-7) Mountain Time (MT)  Mountain Standard Time (MST) (UTC-7) Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) (UTC-6) Central Time (CT) Central Standard Time (CST) (UTC-6) Central Daylight Time (CDT) (UTC-5) Eastern Time (ET) Eastern Standard Time (EST) (UTC-5) Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (UTC-4)

Now, in early November we head south to NSW and Lemon Tree Passage. This means we will shift an hour. Meanwhile, on November 6, 2016, the US leaves DST and the eastern time zone shifts from UTC-4 hours to UTC-5 hours.

Hence, given our change in venue and the time change in the US, we will move from 14 hours ahead of DC to being 16 hours ahead.Since the US doesn't change back to DST until March 12, 2017 and we expect to stay in the New South Wales or Victoria until then, this new time difference will last a while. If we happen to find a sit in Adelaide (South Australia) in this period, it will only be a 15.5 hour difference.

For example, right now, here in Queensland, when it is 10:00 AM on a Monday for us, it is 8:00 PM on Sunday in New York. In November, 10:00 AM on a Monday will be 6:00 PM on Sunday. Got it?

Easy peasy, right?

And just for fun, notice the following.

To get to Australia from the US, the short route is to fly over the Pacific Ocean. It's a long flight. Paradoxically, the further your fly away from the US, the smaller the time difference will be. Going all the way to Perth give a time difference of only 12 hours ( compared to EDST in the US) even though it farther away. This happens because we are measuring distance from the US and time from the UK in different directions. The distance is measured from east to west and the time difference is measured from west to east. As one gets smaller the other gets larger.

Ain't it fun living on a spheroidal planet?

So just to be clear, here' are examples of what's going to happen between where we are and the US in the near future.

Between now and November 3:

Toowoomba (Australia - Queensland)         AEST UTC+10 hours 
Washington DC (USA - District of Columbia) EDT  UTC-4 hours  
Austin (USA - Texas)                       CDT  UTC-5 hours  
Salt Lake City (USA - Utah)                MDT  UTC-6 hours  
Seattle (USA - Washington)                 PDT  UTC-7 hours  

Between November 3 and November 6:

Sydney (Australia - New South Wales)       AEDT UTC+11 hours 
Washington DC (USA - District of Columbia) EDT UTC-4 hours  
Austin (USA - Texas)                       CDT UTC-5 hours  
Cheyenne (USA - Wyoming)                   MDT UTC-6 hours  
Seattle (USA - Washington)                 PDT UTC-7 hours  

After November 6:

Sydney (Australia - New South Wales)       AEDT UTC+11 hours 
Washington DC (USA - District of Columbia) EST  UTC-5 hours  
Austin (USA - Texas)                       CST  UTC-6 hours  
Cheyenne (USA - Wyoming)                   MST  UTC-7 hours  
Seattle (USA - Washington)                 PST  UTC-8 hours 

To get the time difference between your time zone and us, subtract the UTC offsets to see that we go from a time difference with Washington of 14 hours to 15 hours for a few days to 16 hours until we start changing time back in the spring.