Within 48 hours he had set up a fundraising web page and organised a benefit concert for Friday.
Jay Simon noticed red dust on his car in November, which had blown across from the Australian fires.
On New Year’s day he woke up to find grey smoke covering Wanaka.
"I thought if it is like this here in New Zealand what can the people in Australia be going through?"
Mr Simon said on Saturday morning he was having breakfast with his wife and daughter "feeling helpless and not knowing how to help" when he suggested his daughter should busk outside the supermarket.
"Then I thought, actually we can do better than that. There is a lot of talent in this town and it is a great community. We can put on a benefit concert."
An actor by profession, Mr Simon has been involved with the Wanaka "Stars in Your Eyes" productions as a performer but he has never organised a concert as big as this before.
He said he has been "blown away" by the support from musicians, performers and volunteers.
Within hours of setting up his Givealittle page on Sunday night, he was contacted by Australians on holiday in Wanaka wanting to help.
He said money raised would go to support Australian rural firefighters and the Mallacoota Wildlife Shelter.
"This is an unbelievable, horrendous disaster going on a scale that is unimaginable to most of us, and we want to show our Aussie cousins that we’d like to do as much as we can to help out," Mr Simon said.
He said those people unable to attend the benefit concert could donate at https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/wanaka-aussi-aid-for-the-rural-aust....
