Fires in Australia

[nursetina]

The fires currently raging in Australia are absolutely devastating. I'm watching very closely as we fly to Australia in 4 weeks. I'm feeling awful though as I'm watching as I'm fully aware that people are losing their lives, homes, lively hoods and the devastation to the wildlife, however I'm also worried the impact this is going to have on our long planned and saved for holiday
We fly to Perth for the first week, which should all be fine, however we are then scheduled to fly to Melbourne, pick up a hire car and drive up the south east coast to Sydney over a week. This is the worst hit area. I've been in contact with our travel agent who are speaking to the specialist company everything is booked through (Anzcro).
Anzcro have advised they need to wait until after the weekend before any decisions can be made regarding if we continue with trip or changes need to be made. If we request to change it we have to pay, if they make the decision they pay. It sounds really selfish but even if they say we can do the trip I don't think I want to as it's going to be so upsetting seeing all the devastation and not at all what we were planning on. We've paid a lot of money for this holiday and now I'm just feeling anxious it's all going to be awful
I suppose I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of other areas we could go if the ta pay to change it? We are tied to our flights home from Sydney (Well I think we are as Sydney only really affected by smoke and all flights still taking off and landing) I think internal flight to Brisbane could be possible and then drive down to Sydney? They do have bushfires on that route but no where near as bad as new south Wales and Victoria. Anyone done this route?
The wait is awful, anzcro say a lot can change in 4 weeks but for us it's not long at all and I don't want to have to make knee jerk last minute decisions as I'm such a planner
Thanks for listening to my ramble

[mickeyspal]

We were in Sydney 3 weeks ago . We stayed with a friend at the end of a cruise in NZ. The roads were mostly open and we weren't affected by it but it takes hold quickly and while we were in the blue mountains we could see the fires getting closer ,about 2 miles away ,then various roads closed.
There doesn't seem to be anything in Sydney city centre itself so you should be ok there and further north in Brisbane and Cairns as I have friends there and they are fine.
There's nothing in the centre of Aus so you could fly to Ayres rock or Alice springs and get a car there, Uluru is well worth a visit ,and Alice springs you can do school of the air and the flying doctor service, also fly over kings canyon in a helicopter. Have a look on the foreign office website as well. If they say not to travel then you are entitled to your money back but it's unlikely that they will say don't go.

[Rac20]

I’d suggest flying from Sydney up to Brisbane and doing the coastline there. There are beautiful beaches north of Brisbane. There’s Frazer island and then further north there’s Cairns and Port Douglas.

[mickeyspal]

This was within 10 mins of our arrival, there was nothing when we got there

[Mexy02]

My sister lives in Sydney , the air quality is very poor with the smoke And face masks are no use as the particles are too small but the city is carrying on as normal at present . Their apartment is constantly covered in soot so if you have breathing problems it may affect you. Unfortunately your advisors are correct anything could happen over the coming weeks. They desperately need rain more than anything but being summer it’s unlikely that will come.

[nursetina]

Originally Posted by mickeyspal

This was within 10 mins of our arrival, there was nothing when we got there

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It's so sad isn't it, absolute devastation 😢
I feel very selfish worrying about my holiday.
This weekend is supposed to be really bad due to wind, really high temperatures and chances of lightening.
Hope you enjoyed your holiday.

[THE WIZARD]

Spoke with my friends in the Blue Mountains yesterday & they are ok at present but prepared to evacuate if needs be. The skies are still red & smoke in the air continually. Sydney itself is smokey at present. This weekend is going to be telling tho. Brisbane is fine you could fly up there as they fly the coastal route up. As others have said you could fly into Alice Springs it's worth a visit in the Red Centre there with lots of other things to do. Melbourne outskirts are on alert at present so fingers crossed for them.

[mickeyspal]

It's not selfish at all, you have saved and looked forward to your holiday and just need to know what to do. It's heart breaking to see the destruction

[nursetina]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

My sister lives in Sydney , the air quality is very poor with the smoke And face masks are no use as the particles are too small but the city is carrying on as normal at present . Their apartment is constantly covered in soot so if you have breathing problems it may affect you. Unfortunately your advisors are correct anything could happen over the coming weeks. They desperately need rain more than anything but being summer it’s unlikely that will come.

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I very much doubt that the foreign office will advise against travel to Australia as lots of other areas are fine to visit. I don't want to cancel either as we are visiting friends in Perth first. I'm just looking at possible options if ta does say we can change itinery. I don't think they will change our return flights from Sydney so the options are limited.
My dd does suffer a little with asthma but not badly so I'll make sure she packs her inhalers. Trust be awful living with that every day.

[bonnies mum]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

My sister lives in Sydney , the air quality is very poor with the smoke And face masks are no use as the particles are too small but the city is carrying on as normal at present . Their apartment is constantly covered in soot so if you have breathing problems it may affect you. Unfortunately your advisors are correct anything could happen over the coming weeks. They desperately need rain more than anything but being summer it’s unlikely that will come.

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Yes, family in Sydney have said in the city centre it’s like it’s snowing with dust particles and out in Manley there is a smell of smoke.
We contacted other family who are near to Brisbane and they say that as they have had rain recently they are not affected directly by fires but there fires around Brisbane itself and they can smell smoke.