If you’re planning on making the move to our sunny shores then you’ll have even more time to enjoy longer days and warmer evenings.
BBQs fired up across the country a week earlier than normal this year as New Zealand started celebrating an extra three weeks of daylight saving.
New Zealanders now get an extra hour of daylight for 27 weeks, from the last Sunday in September to the first Sunday in April.
This year daylight saving started on Sunday 30 September 2007 at 2am (when clocks are put forward one hour), and will end at 3am on 6 April 2008 (when clocks are put back one hour to return to standard time).
This is the first change to daylight saving since 1990.
When the changes were introduced in April this year, Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker said people would have an extra hour of daylight in the evenings to enjoy the outdoors.
“This builds upon the extra half an hour already built into New Zealand’s time throughout the year.”
Mr Barker said the earlier start would also avoid clashes with the start of the fourth school term, which has caused disruptions for schools and families in the past.
“However more broadly over the longer term we will also be monitoring the effects on other parts of the economy, such as the energy sector, to see if there are long term sustainable benefits.”
Background: NZ Standard Time and Daylight Time
Beach: Copyright Cathy Aronsson