Volunteer rural firefighter Tony Ludlow was deployed last Friday along with 52 other New Zealand firefighters to help fight the devastating Victorian bushfires.
Mr Ludlow said their day started at 6am. Breakfast and a brief on the day ahead were followed by a drive to the front line.
They returned to camp about 9pm, ate dinner, showered and "got ready for the next one". Coffee helped him cope with the long, physical days.
It was difficult to think about the disastrous path the fires had left, especially since he had been working with some of its victims.
"Some of the Aussie guys are putting out the fires and have lost their own homes," he said. Despite this, their hosts had been hospitable.
With the death toll at 201 and five major fires still out of control, the apprentice drainlayer chose to "turn off" the constant media reports.
"I don't really want to see that as well as fighting it."
His girlfriend was not happy about him going and many of the crews' family and friends were "freaked out a lot".
However, everybody was safe "which is the main thing".
The New Zealand crew's main job was to carry out an "indirect attack" on the fire.
They had been building firebreaks and back-burning the bush, "trying to hit the fire before it hits us".
They were about 10km - "a safe distance"- away from one of the main bushfires in the Yarra State Forest.
Temperatures in the area had been in the high 20s for the past week, and smoke was constantly in the air.
Despite the risk of fire remaining high in Otago, Mr Ludlow was not concerned about being in Australia.
"If the risk was that high, we wouldn't be here," he said.
The crew is expected to work in Victoria until early in March.
