The Daily Shot: 41 degs

Australia can be hot. Not Spain hot, or Africa hot. I am talking H.O.T!

The kinda hot where you open the door, and the extreme heat hits you in the face like a cricket bat.

I remember days in my childhood with hot days, those exceptional days like here, but instead of school closed due to snow; we had hot days with a school closure.

My school however had fans...and it was only if it was over 35 degrees did they recognise the heat. Otherwise it was 'school on', sweat where you need to, but you 'aint going home..so just stay here in the hotness and keep learning, and here is a test that 90% of your year grade will be based on....ok I'm exaggerating...a little.

So 'The Scotsman' is used to the heat. We have had our share of hot holidays. One of our first trips together was to Cyprus. I totally embraced the heat there. We were at the pool one day, and he signed that it was too hot and went back to the room, but not me - I told him I was an Aussie, and this heat wasn't real heat. So I stayed out there with NO sunscreen. Our first real trip together, and I spend the majority of it having ice baths, crying, having skin shed in the most in-appropriate places and at the most in-appropriate times...due to excessive sun burn. That showed me. It also showed true love, as he looked after me, and was happy to spend the remainder of the holiday in the room, where I took Aloe Vera cream like it was penicillin.

So back to the the oz trip. After leaving Geelong, and the little guy having a great time playing with an underwater camera, inside our hotel room. We travelled back from Victoria to South Australia - this time bypassing the G.O.R - we just were not ready to be on that journey again together - so definitely more inland, and I think we started out at 9am, and the satnav told us we would be home at 5ish.....this actually ended up being 10pm.

On the way we stopped a few times. We saw the Giant Koala. Australia has so many 'Giant' attractions - so we have decided we are going to try and see them all in our lifetime!

But mostly we stopped for bug clean up on the window screen. We also did the duty of emptying all our fruit at the quarantine bin, due to South Australia's tough laws on fruit flies. Warning to the wise. If you do stop at this bin, which is on the border, to get rid of your fruit - be prepared for a million zillion fruit flies.

They are hanging by that bin like its happy hour on a Friday night. I couldn't understand it. We get rid of fruit, but whilst doing it, those buggery flies get on your clothes, in your hair, in the car...and we are illegally transporting them into the state. We don't have the fruit...but we have the flies.

Anyway, those flies did not make it. I have 35 years experience of fly swatting. I am the Crocodile Dundee of flies. Also 'The Scotsman' had a fly zapper. That favourite little electrocution toy that everyone loves.

We stopped in....the last town between the borders...called...."Bordertown" - it was at this time, where the sun was at the hottest...41 degrees, that we decided to have a break and walk around the town. Did we have carbon monoxide poisoning? Are we hallucinating? 41 degrees and we are walking the "Ghost" town (because no sane people were out there) like tourists wondering why nothing was opened? It was Sunday and FORTY ONE degrees!

We checked out the local park - re-washed the windscreen - killed flies - blew bubbles - and looked like to an outsider with our flushed cheeks that we had run a min marathon...but it was because we were hot, as it was 41 degrees. Good times.