Since the end of 2019, our home of Australia was victim to the worst bushfires in its history. Nearly 1.25 billion animals have died, including over a third of the koala population, and 29 million acres of land burnt down. Almost 2500 homes have been destroyed and 33 people have died.

The bushfires started at the end of 2019, and Australia has faced with new weather disasters. When the bushfires started to slow, ash rain, dust storms and hail stones were a few of the life-threatening types of weather that our home country has had to endure in the past month. The golf ball-sized hail literally shredded through trees, windscreens and even killed thousands of animals, mainly bats. Thankfully, rain finally hit, relieving many of the fires; our home state of New South Wales at last, after 240 days, is free of all fires.

Torrential rain has lead to flooding that swept over the nation when it was already struggling. Many of our relatives had to evacuate once again, first from the fires, and then from the floods. Millions of fish died and rivers polluted as ash was swept into water sources by the rain.

We started out as a core group of 13 Australians who live in London - the group consists of Ryan, Nessy, Molly, Meg, Edie, Lulu, Teddy, Elliot, Elfie, Myla, Eden, Hamish and Aidan. Many of us have family affected and evacuated because of the fires, and we really wanted to do something to help.

Yet, talking to all of our friends about what we aim to do, we have been more than overwhelmed with the support we received. Most of them wanted to help out on our cause, and we were more than happy to have them on board. They include: Jasper, Joseph, AJ, JC, Rocky, Faris, Henry, Felix, Mani, Yuval, Maxi, Issey and Sachin. This brings our group to a total of 27 people.

To raise money, we decided to complete a sponsored distance through walking, running, swimming, cycling and rowing . One of our hometowns is Cobargo, which lies 380km south of Sydney, which is where the majority of us are from. Cobargo suffered hugely in the fires, losing around 180 homes.

We decided to complete the distance from Sydney to Cobargo, and then back to Sydney. This totals 760km, which means each of us must complete 30km.

We’ve decided to set our goal to £5700 as this figure represents the number of firefighters, army reserve forces and others called to help fight the flames. This figure has likely risen since the 5th January, when the statistic was given.

Our money is going to go the NSW Rural Fire Service, the world's largest volunteer firefighter organisation that looks after the firefighters themselves. This is especially important considering the majority of firefighters are volunteering, risking their lives for us, as well as the mental toll these fires have taken on them. It also looks to provide for the communities affected, many of whom have lost their homes, farms, places of work and religion, and more. This charity helps to build Australia back up. Feel free to look at their website here to find out more about them.

It is now more important than ever to help Australia. A lot of people ask Nessy and I that if the fires are over, why are we still fundraising. Well, the country's communities and homes have been broken by an endless attack of apocalyptic weather events. We want to help restore our home, from the ground up, as our fellow Australians, our family, and our friends all deserve to live in a home and community they feel safe in. It is also necessary to help rebuild Australia with fire-resistance, so that when the next round of fires hit, most likely at the end of the year, the county will be more prepared.

We really appreciate any donation, no matter how much. For the longest time we felt helpless as we were 9,500 miles north, so we hope we can make a difference, no matter how small. In a time of stress for not only us, but for the whole world, we just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported Australia.