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Searing heatwave hits Australia, New Zealand, ahead of Lunar New Year surge of Chinese tourists
- Some cities have recorded their highest temperatures in nearly 80 years, but for Asian travellers who have booked Lunar New Year travel in advance, it’s too late to change their plans
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Australia and New Zealand are sweltering through a record-breaking heatwave that has sent snakes slithering into bathrooms and sparked warnings from the authorities not to walk around outside barefoot.
The soaring temperatures come as travellers from across Asia are expected to head down under en masse for the Lunar New Year next week.
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In Sydney, a fault with an underground cable left about 45,000 homes without electricity on Thursday morning as temperatures nudged 35 degrees Celsius. Power was restored by 1pm, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Last week, the mercury soared to 46.6 degrees in Adelaide, South Australia, smashing the previous record for the city set in 1939. In Queensland, a snake catcher named Luke Huntley has described being called to remove the cold-blooded creatures from showers and even the toilet of a family home as temperatures soared across the state.
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“With the hot dry weather currently these snakes are going for the cool and water,” he wrote on Facebook.
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