new zealand ash
© Rachelhatesit/Andy HoareThe ash has spread as far as New Zealand
A huge ash cloud from the Australian bush fires is so vast it has spread over 2,500 miles to New Zealand.

Images show a thick orange haze filling the skies after drifting across the Tasman Sea.

Meteorologist Aidan Pyselman told Stuff: 'It's off and on, when we get a particular setup with the way the upper winds are it tends to come across. We haven't had it consistently but at the moment we've got a front moving on to the South Island.

'It's been happening for quite some time since the Aussie bushfires have been going. At the moment it's definitely more noticeable, especially over the South Island.'

'It will probably peter out. At the moment it's coming across on northwesterly flow, but later in the week the winds will be more southwesterly, so we probably won't see as much.'

One satellite image showed the south island covered in smoke, which was spreading to the north island too.
Last month, we reported that so much ash had blown across to New Zealand that it was turning mountains and glaciers in New Zealand orange.

The bushfires have been raging out of control across New South Wales and other states in south eastern Australia.

Authorities said 381 homes had been destroyed on the New South Wales southern coast this week and at least eight people have died this week in the state and neighboring Victoria, Australia's two most-populous states, where more than 200 fires are currently burning.
The Tasman Glacier in New Zealand
© Andy HoareThe Tasman Glacier in New Zealand
The early and devastating start to Australia's summer wildfires has led authorities to rate this season the worst on record. About 5 million hectares (12.35 million acres) of land have burned, with at least 17 people dead and more than 1,300 homes destroyed.

Prime Minster Scott Morrison said the crisis was likely to last for months. 'It (fires) will continue to go on until we can get some decent rain that can deal with some of the fires that have been burning for many, many months,' he said today.
alps nz
© youngadventuressThe impact of Australia’s fire can be seen in the alps region of New Zealand
Smoke from the wildfires made the air quality in the national capital, Canberra, the world's worst in a ranking index.