Here I did enjoy it still being light a little later; sunrise is due 06:39, sunset 19:07, maximums 22, 25, 25 next few days, but minimums are still 2, 5, 5 so daylight savings could’ve waited another few weeks (last Sunday of October used to be good), but that’s Canberra in spring.
Now if only the federal parliament would standardise so have daylight savings across all time zones… 
I personally think DST starting on the 1st Sunday of October works quite well from a Sydney perspective, largely because it coincides with the Labour Day/NRL Grand Final weekend of course! 
Yes 1st Sunday in October definitely works well for Sydney, and unlike our cousins a little further north/west, I realise that time zones (with or without daylight savings) are a compromise; they can’t be perfect for absolutely everyone in them, and so I’d be fine with daylight savings starting as it is, or a bit later if such a compromise would get Qld, NT, WA on-board.
I think the compromise necessary to get other states at least a little more interested would be to finish it earlier.
Nothing wrong with it starting at the start of October. If we had joined DST today in QLD (if only!), sunrise in Townsville would have been 6:54am and sunset 7:10pm - that’s perfect in my opinion.
But the current end of it at the start of April is a problem IMO, it would lead to all of QLD (except Brisbane) having sunrise well after 7am at the end of it, if we were to have it.
Even Melbourne has sunrise at 7:35am by the end of DST in early April.
If it ran from first weekend in October to first weekend in March I think it would be looked on a bit more favourably.
Although, QLD (especially regional QLD) is full of people who honestly believe that DST leads to sunrise 1 hour earlier and sunset 1 hour later who argue that “it’s already hot enough, those extra hours of sunlight will just make it even hotter”. 
I like DST on the first Sunday in October and that’s how I’ve always remembered it and now that the other states have caught up to Tassie with that one it’s been better because October was always chaotic for TV and radio schedules.
I do think it goes just a week too late. As silly as that sounds, since the change from the last Sunday in March to the first Sunday in April I do notice in that last week it’s just that bit harder with the sun setting earlier and rising later.
DST used to end in March; I think April is also too late for here, and Melbourne’s 07:35 is nuts, so yes ending on the first Sunday in March sounds good to me.
I think the Tassie-led extension of DST to its current overly long times was exaggerating the benefit of DST (and ignored the negatives at the start & end), especially outside Tasmania; here it is great in summer but not so much if at all in spring & autumn.
The start & end dates need to be a standard across the country, which yes could mean Tassie would lose some of what it apparently likes for the sake of people in other states, including making business across the country consistent, and for the same reason Qld/NT/WA should get DST at the same, compromised but standard, dates.
But how to get past the ignorance of people who don’t even know that DST means 06:00 becomes 07:00 (during daylight savings time)…?
Yeah, I have no idea.
I’ve found living in regional QLD that the vast majority of people hate the idea of DST because they’ve either heard stories about how bad it is, or have vague misguided memories of it from the last trial nearly 30 years ago.
You can ask someone what they remember from the last trial and they’ll say “the sun was up until 10pm”… but then you can argue back “that’s impossible, that would mean the sun sets currently at 9pm, that clearly doesn’t happen”… and they’ll tell you back “well, that’s just what happened, alright, I remember it well”… (I’ve actually had this exact conversation with someone in the past )
Then there’s plenty of people below the age of about 40 (who either weren’t born or were very young in the last trial) who have no memories of a trial but will tell you how shit DST is based on these ^^^ types of stories they’ve heard from parents/family.
It’s an endless cycle of ignorance and until we have another trial (or better yet, just implement it), these stupid misconceptions just roll on.
A worrying future for Australia, particularly for its 2 biggest cities. 
Well at this rate maybe then we’ll get to host the FIFA World Cup (Qatar unbelievably hosting the next one).
Only if we bribe FIFA enough.
Interesting temperature ranges between Tasmania’s two biggest cities yesterday:
Hobart: 9 - 10
Launceston: 3 - 20
Launceston is only 200km away but doubled the Hobart temperature as well as starting the day much cooler. Rain here today but we’ve finally had a couple of good days and finally cracking the 20 degree mark.
Has to be one of the wettest Bathurst’s ever? ⛆:cloud:
Checked the radar, unfortunately, the entire area engulfed in a big band of rain!
Good luck drivers 
I prefer watching the motor racing when it’s a wet track.
A lot more happens.
Can’t say I agree, hard to watch, makes it messier too.
I do love some of the mistakes, missed turns, etc (not that that’s a good thing) 
Random fact of the day:
I live right NEXT to Mount Panorama. Right across the road.
Well here in Newcastle right now, it is… guess what… you won’t believe… its
RAINING!!
Had hardly any rain since about June…
Though it’s just tapering off right now… only lasted 10 mins… oh well
Meanwhile sun and warm weather continues in Melbourne 
Been a lovely week or so!
>230 km2 burnt since the weekend, 1500 homes/buildings destroyed; Abbott reckons this is good?
PS:
…after months of record-breaking temperatures.
…
National heatwave project director John Nairn said the bureau had noticed increasing heat episodes in northern Australia and parts of the east coast, prompting it to bring the service forward by three weeks…
And a nice rebuff against Abbott’s bullshit (as if anyone with half a brain needed it):
Extreme heat has killed more people in Australia than all of the other natural disasters combined.
In February 2009, now infamous for the Black Saturday fires, 173 people died directly as a result of the fire.
It is less well known that 374 people died because of the heatwave leading up to the fires.
…
Mr Nairn said the 2009 heatwave event was equivalent to the 2003 heatwave in western Europe, where there were about 30,000 deaths.
PPS: More for the Abbott is full of shit file…
Despite (incorrectly) rubbishing the big Telsa battery system being built now, at least the SA Libs aren’t denying the need for electricity storage:
Liberal leader Steven Marshall…
…wants to give 40,000 homes battery storage to potentially reduce electricity use at times of peak demand which he says will help limit stress on the grid and lower the price of power.
And this summer we’ll have more governments paying people to turn off air con…
[Federal] Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said a household could be paid $25 each time it switched off at a peak demand time, on top of the saving on its power bills.
…
A similar program called PeakSmart already operates in Queensland, offering financial incentives for people who agree to limit air-conditioners to 26 degrees Celsius and have pool pumps turned off during peak demand.
A good idea - to an extent - but I worry the worst off will be paying (one way or another, $ &/or heat) for the inaction caused by right-wing idiots in the federal gov’t denying reality.
Of course things are getting really bad the way we’re going (with Abbott & co. blocking action), so it appears we will need something like this:
But efforts to store captured carbon underground are “showing no progress … and even backwards steps in some cases”, said Corinne Le Quéré, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia.
And if by luck somehow such technology becomes viable, will those right-wing idiots currently denying the problem try to use it as an excuse to continue polluting with coal?
I wonder what more risky/dangerous tech may have to be used because of the crises that will come from climate instability, and what the side-effects will be.
Melbourne into the 30s next week, after another cracker weekend this week 