Daylight Savings

So this past Sunday Australia entered daylight savings and this caused some strife. The first part of it was: which way do the clocks actually go? In America I’d always gone by

Spring forward
Fall back

The question was did this system still work in the upside down world. Sure we were still going into summer, but if the seasons are backwards possibly daylight savings would go backwards too. It was a question that puzzled both my roommate and I, but come Sunday morning the clock on my computer had answered for me (it was the same).
The second part, and one that I didn’t realize for a good 24 hours, was that just because Australia had moved its time, America hadn’t. It 4 o’clock in the afternoon and yet I was still talking to people in America (given they were all uni students so it might not be that bizarre). I was then confused on exactly how far behind American now was, or how far ahead I was. Turns out its 15 hours now.
Now the last part of this, only just realized now is that when American clocks go off daylight savings the time difference will change again. This will make a 16 hour difference! How can two countries be 14 hours apart for half a year and 16 hours for the rest?!?