Aussie Time Zones

[FlapperQuack]

In the theme of new year...

I heard on the radio this afternoon that Australia had welcomed in the new year. This made me think, they are 12 hours ahead (or 11, my memoryisn't what it used to be) of us, so each day starts 12 hours ahead of when ours do. Fine, i understand that bit.

So hte same applies to wherever in the world (forgive my public education ignorance) is 12/11 hours behind us. This is also understand.

Theconfusion comes with what happens when youcross the time zone between Australia and the next zone East... Say for example it is 02:00 Jan 1st in [GMT + 11], is it then 03:00 Jan 2nd in [GMT - 12]??

In simple terms, the time zone to hte East of Australia, is that essentially one calendarday behind Australia itself or am i missing something?

Thanks for humouring me...

[vehelpfulguy]

Think about when you fly the Atlantic. New York is 5 hours BEHIND us. When you fly West from UK to USA you travel across 5 or more time zones (1 hour each), and the flight takes about 8 hours.

So when you arrive in New York it is only 3 hours later then when you took off.

When you fly back the flight again takes 8 hours. but we are 5 hours ahead of them, so you add on 5 times zones. You actually land 13 hours later than when you took off.

The strangest thing is when you take a ocean liner across the Atlantic. It usually takes about a day to travel across one time zone, so going east you need to add an hour each day, so you have 25 hour days.

Of course when travelling West you only have 23 hour days.

[vehelpfulguy]

To answer your specific question. The world is divided into 24 one-hour time zone that obviosuly go in a circle and meet up. Picture here:

http://nist.time.gov/images/worldzones.gif

Therefore if you find the first place that celebrates the new year, then fly EAST one time zone you must be going into the place the celebrates the new year LAST.

Therefore at midnight on 1st January, if you fly east it will becomes 1am the previous day (31st December) and they have to wait 23 hours to celebrate the new year.

[bernardo]

The short answer to your question is "yes" (although it happens in Mid-Pacific, further out than Australia, just beyond New Zealand). The place where it happens is called the "International Date Line". You could theoretically be on a boat in the middle of the ocean with half of the boat in Tuesday and the other half in Wednesday, but otherwise in the same time (or one hour apart).

[stanleyman]

Reminds me of the time I flew in a Hercules transport plane from the UK to Vancouver. It took 24 hrs, left at 10.00 am got there at 10.00 pm local time, it was still light, the longest day of my life!

[FlapperQuack]

Thanks for your responses!

I see now. Poor naive me has only been 2 hours outside GMT, i'll have to try something more adventurous and experience the wonders of jet-lag!