Yep. Southeast will go back to +10 in March; we have DST while northeast does not. Nobody lives in the north really, and the southern green blob is Adelaide, which anyone in Australia will tell you is completely moronic and pointless anyway. Dammit I love this country!
@racetrack is it because more people live closer to the east side of the green blob and more people live on the west side of the yellow one? Either way, this is crazy.
@andre That sounds as plausible as anything. I don't really know; its easier to dismiss the entire northwest as irrelevant and South Australia as nutbar whackjobs. You sound like you might have actually wanted to know the real reason. I could do some research if you like, but honestly its easier just to handwave it away.
@andre, And it's even better at the beginning of summer when Tasmania (the bit at the bottom) goes onto daylight saving before the other blue bits, and there's 6 separate timezones.
Basically, the maths are:
The eastern states (+11) have daylight savings. Queensland (+10) doesn't, probably because DLS is less effective the closer you are to the equator. The Northern Territory (+9.5) doesn't have DLS for the same reason. South Australia (+10.5) is normally 30 minutes behind the eastern states, and they have DLS, so they jump forward of the Northern Territory.
Over in the west, well, we're not sure why we don't have DLS. We try it out every few years and a bunch of reactionary nut-jobs complain like motherfuckers.
Bonus Point: The town of Eucla, which is on the border between the +8 and +10.5, actually operates 45 minutes ahead of the rest of the state. But that's unofficial, so it's not a 7th timezone.
Basically, the maths are:
The eastern states (+11) have daylight savings. Queensland (+10) doesn't, probably because DLS is less effective the closer you are to the equator. The Northern Territory (+9.5) doesn't have DLS for the same reason. South Australia (+10.5) is normally 30 minutes behind the eastern states, and they have DLS, so they jump forward of the Northern Territory.
Over in the west, well, we're not sure why we don't have DLS. We try it out every few years and a bunch of reactionary nut-jobs complain like motherfuckers.
Bonus Point: The town of Eucla, which is on the border between the +8 and +10.5, actually operates 45 minutes ahead of the rest of the state. But that's unofficial, so it's not a 7th timezone.