The season of late sunsets, after-work beach trips and squeezing a little more into the evening is almost here.
Daylight saving returns to South Australia this weekend, with clocks moving forward one hour at 2am on Sunday, October 4, jumping straight to 3am.
And while it means losing an hour of sleep overnight, for most of us, the trade-off of welcoming back those warm Adelaide evenings is well worth the sacrifice.
From Sunday, sunset in Adelaide will suddenly shift to around 7:20pm, giving locals more daylight for everything from coastal walks, backyard barbecues and midweek catch-ups that no longer feel like they are happening after dark.
It may be a small calendar change but it signals warm weather is well and truly on its way. And, of course, the evenings will only keep stretching out from there as we move further into spring and towards summer.
South Australia is one of five states making the switch, alongside New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not observe daylight saving, which means Australia will once again be split across five different time zones for summer.
OCT 3 – OCT 4
It is the same annual arrangement South Australians are used to, with daylight saving beginning on the first Sunday in October and wrapping up on the first Sunday in April.
The change has long been part of the rhythm of an Adelaide summer, and while debates about whether daylight saving is loved or loathed tend to pop up every year, there is no denying that it changes the feel of the city almost overnight.
Most phones, laptops and smart devices will update automatically, but this is your reminder to check the oven, microwave, car clock and that one watch you always forget.
And if that lost hour is hard to swallow, at least there is something good waiting on the other side. Longer dinners, later sunsets, beachside evenings and the unofficial start of Adelaide’s best evening season.
Australia’s updated time zones
South Australia: 12pm
Western Australia: 9:30am
New South Wales: 12:30pm
Victoria: 12:30pm
Tasmania: 12:30pm
Queensland: 11:30am
Northern Territory: 11am
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