The number of lives lost in Australia's bushfires continues to rise as blazes burn out of control in New South Wales and Victoria. At least 8 people are dead and hundreds of properties have been destroyed in East Gippsland in Victoria and on the South Coast of New South Wales.
Lives lost, houses destroyed, coastal communities forced to run into the ocean and millions of Australia's native wildlife killed.
For Australians directly impacted by the fires, the annual "Happy New Year" greeting must surely sound particularly hollow. [[insincere, little meaning]]
Among those left trying to work out a way forward is Andrew Brown of Clifton Creek near Bairnsdale in Victoria.
He built his home by hand 40 years ago and now it's a charred shell.
He told SBS News there's a possibility he'll rebuild.
He found it hard to describe how it felt when he first saw what was left of his home.
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