SYDNEY (AFP): Australia experienced its hottest year on record in 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology said Friday, enduring the longest heat wave ever recorded Down Under as well as destructive bushfires. “2013 was Australia’s warmest year since records began in 1910,” the bureau said in its annual climate statement, released as inland areas of the country suffer scorching heat wave conditions. “Mean temperatures across Australia have generally been well above average since September 2012.