{"id":223247,"date":"2026-01-08T13:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/223247\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T13:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:23:17","slug":"top-tips-for-beating-the-heat-from-australias-hottest-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/223247\/","title":{"rendered":"Top tips for beating the heat from Australia’s hottest town"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kimberley Putland and Charlie Mills, ABC<\/p>\n

\"While<\/p>\n

\nWhile the rest of Australia sweats, 45C is a regular summers day in Marble Bar.
\nPhoto: ABC Pilbara: Kimberley Putland\n<\/p>\n

In Australia’s “hottest town”, a forecast of 45 degrees Celsius or above is business as usual.<\/p>\n

The country is in the midst of what weather authorities are calling the most significant heatwave in six years<\/a>, but residents of Marble Bar, 1,470km north of Perth, are unfazed.<\/p>\n

Home to about 200 people, Marble Bar is nestled in the centre of the arid Pilbara region, between the major mining towns of Newman and Port Hedland.<\/p>\n

The town first gained international recognition when it set a world record with 160 days above 100 degrees farenheight in the 1923-24 summer.<\/p>\n

“This heat for this time of year is just a Tuesday for us,” Marble Bar Community Resource Centre manager Bazz Harris laughed.<\/p>\n

Even so, with the town’s prominent temperature gauge clocking up a reading of 51 degrees earlier this week, residents have shared their tips on how to keep cool in a heatwave<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We have had a gentleman who purchased 30 bags of ice and filled his blow-up pool with it, and sat on his front porch with a beer,” Harris said.<\/p>\n

“The trick there – he was butt naked – it was not a sexy sight, but it’s what he did to keep cool.”<\/p>\n

\"Bazz<\/p>\n

\nBazz Harris says people take extraordinary measures to stay cool.
\nPhoto: ABC Pilbara: Kimberley Putland\n<\/p>\n

Sleep and hydration key<\/p>\n

Pilbara locals enjoy fresh waterholes<\/a> to keep themselves cool in the long summers, and early showers before the cold tap turns warm.<\/p>\n

But for those without access to waterholes, Harris’s top tip came down to sleeping habits.<\/p>\n

“A good eight hours sleep at night in a cool air-conditioned bedroom and you can deal with the day.”<\/p>\n

\"Marble<\/p>\n

\nMarble Bar’s maximum temperature for this month sits at 51C.
\nPhoto: ABC Pilbara: Kimberley Putland\n<\/p>\n

Misting toilet invention<\/p>\n

Marble Bar resident John Mladenovich recalled finding a tin shed toilet at an exploration site in the Great Sandy Desert where an automated mister had been installed.<\/p>\n

“The thunderbox, they called it,” he laughed.<\/p>\n

“As soon as you sat on the dunny, it was automatic; they had this mist coming down.<\/p>\n

“In the breeze it was almost like you were in aircon.”<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

\nJohn Mlandenovich likes to keep cool by drinking a beer and watching the cricket.
\nPhoto: ABC Pilbara: Kimberley Putland\n<\/p>\n

On a more serious note, Mladenovich recommended wearing a wet towel over your head, neck and face, or running under the sprinkler.<\/p>\n

“But make sure you’ve got your clothes on,” he said.<\/p>\n

He also urged anyone sweltering through the current heat to remember to replace their electrolytes when drinking plenty of water.<\/p>\n

“One orange, squeezed, a whole lemon and a teaspoon of baking soda – drink that, and you’ll feel refreshed,” he said.<\/p>\n

But most importantly, Mladenovich said sitting in the shade watching the cricket with a beverage in hand was the best way to keep cool.<\/p>\n

“One thousand percent, you don’t feel the heat,” he said.<\/p>\n

– ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Kimberley Putland and Charlie Mills, ABC While the rest of Australia sweats, 45C is a regular summers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-223247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}