At least the change meant that previously mentioned issues with the setting sun would now be a thing of the past.
However, that fat old Sol had well and truly gone to bed when the Indian Pacific rolled out of Adelaide.
With new passengers on board, I wasn't sure whether existing dinner arrangements would stand, and wasn't keen on being forced to switch to the early sitting.
But no one came to discuss the matter.
When the Red Sitting was called, I set off for the Club Car to see whether there'd be a chance of a free glass at the Blue Sitting Welcome Reception as well as the odd pre-prandial snifter.
That may seem uncommonly like freeloading, but once the glasses had been distributed, an inquiry from the new Hospitality Manager (they'd changed over in Adelaide) as to the makeup of the crowd in the Club Car revealed that newbies were rather thin on the ground.
Maybe that explained why there weren't any refills.
Dinner for the Blue Sitting wasn't due till nine.
Still, I managed to kill time in conversation with the couple we'd met over lunch. Madam was catching up on things in the cabin, with sleep a significant agenda item.
When I set off to advise dinner was on the horizon, Gavin slipped a rather good bottle of Peter Lehmann Shiraz into the dinner mix.
While I wasn't quite walking on my knuckles when we toddled off to bed around eleven, I didn't take much rocking.