What it feels like in the hottest place on the planet
In the small Mallee town of Walpeup, hardly anyone was moving in the afternoon, and why should they be?
The clear weather was no place to be as the town broke Victoria’s maximum temperature record, reaching 48.9 degrees at around 3.30pm on Tuesday afternoon. This wasn’t just the hottest place in Victoria. This was the hottest place on planet Earth; but an hour ago the small South Australian town of Renmark had this dubious honour.
The previous Victorian record of 48.8 was set at Hopetoun in 2009.
Staying in the sun for more than a few minutes on Tuesday was downright dangerous. Since I spent the day in the Walpeup and Ouyen area and talked to the local residents myself, I didn’t really want to be outside. The weather was equally hot in Ouyen, which was much more populated.
I started the day early in the morning, at a relatively cool hour, with farmer Linton Hahnel tending the sheep and providing them with water on the Ouyen farm. He said that work would stop due to the heat and that agriculture would no longer be done in the sun.
Ouyen has already had days hotter than 40 degrees, and scorching temperatures could continue into the weekend.
“It’s a long period of particularly hot weather, and it will continue until Saturday, so there are still three or four more days,” Hahnel said. “It’s going to be tiring.”
He said the heat is usually peak between 5pm and 7pm, when the sun begins to lower in the sky.
“The sun shines under the brim of your hat and under the porches. You can’t seem to get out of it. Every time you look up, you’re looking at the sun. That’s when it’s hot. That’s when it’s time to go to the lake and jump in the water.”
Early Tuesday afternoon the temperature exceeded 47 degrees. I stepped into Ouyen, which felt like diving into a warm bath.
It was almost manageable in the shade. But the sun was a heat that made one’s skin stand on end. Within minutes my mouth started to dry out and my head started to sting in the sun.
Standing on the path, I could feel the heat penetrating the soles of my walking shoes until I had to hop from foot to foot until I got out of the sun. I felt like a dancing bear. I knew my body temperature was starting to rise and I needed air conditioning immediately.
All heat plates applied. The wind was like a hair dryer turned on its hottest setting. Of course I tried sun frying eggs. Within a few minutes, the translucent liquid began to turn white. After about 20 minutes the yolk looked pretty well cooked too.
The only sounds I could hear were the hum of the air conditioners, the scraping of dry eucalyptus leaves on the ground, and the occasional rustle of a car’s tires moving along the road.
There was barely a sound to be heard. Pedestrians were extremely rare. The Mallee Highway, which connects Ouyen to Walpeup, was virtually deserted except for the occasional SUV or huge road train.
By contrast, the atmosphere was jovial as dozens of townspeople gathered at the Victoria Hotel in Ouyen. Loud cheers erupted as live footage of them appeared on television screens, courtesy of a news crew set up near the bar.
Ouyen Lake, completed in 2018, has been a blessing. The vast body of water is a triumph of community commitment, with many volunteer hours spent building it.
Ouyen resident Renae Lanigan said it has done wonders for her mental health.
“I see the benefits to the town of people walking and coming together,” he said. “Very nice.”
However, it was abandoned on Tuesday afternoon; It was too hot even to swim in the lake.
For those who grew up here, long periods of heat accompany the region. Lifelong Ouyen resident Donald McGregor grew up without air conditioning and slept outside when the temperatures soared.
He said that the summer months in the past 10 years were milder and more humid than this season. McGregor said the heat is now more extreme.
“It depends on the wind. I hope it won’t be too severe,” he said in the Tuesday afternoon heat.
Linton’s mother, Moyne Hahnel, 93, who grew up in Walpeup, lived without electricity as a child. The family was cooking in the wood-fired oven. He remembers the temperature exceeding 47 degrees.
In the evenings, they would take the kitchen table outside and eat cold roast lamb so they didn’t have to turn on the oven. They would also sleep on the veranda.
“My mother would take a sheet and dip it in cold water and cover us because the mosquitoes were just the size of the plague,” said Moyne Hahnel, who now lives in Ouyen.
On Tuesday he was putting out water for the birds and monitoring the water levels in case it started to dry out. When the weather gets really warm, even hawks will visit his property for a drink.
Was he worried about the heat and its effect on the townspeople’s health?
“Absolutely not. We were so spoiled today,” he said. “We can go inside and turn on the air conditioning. There’s plenty of cold drinks in the fridge.”
He said he doesn’t feel like heat waves last as long today as they did when he was a kid.
“I experienced very hot times.”
But as climate change increases the likelihood of extremely hot spells, I shudder to think of future summers. It’s enough to make you break out in a cold sweat.
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Benjamin Preiss is regional editor of The Age. He was previously a state tour correspondent and also covered education for The Age.Connect with: X or email.
