Waleed Nassar was visiting his mother in Egypt with his wife and three daughters when protesters began demonstrating across the country, demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down.
On a visit to Disouq, halfway between Alexandria and Cairo, Mr Nassar says Egyptian security forces fired at him, despite the fact that he was not participating in the protests.
Mr Nassar says he is trying to reach Cairo with his family in order to board an emergency Qantas flight chartered by the Australian government and scheduled to depart on Wednesday.
"We have no way of getting to Cairo," he says, adding that train, bus and air routes have been shut down and a curfew is in place.
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He says he has been warned not to use the highway to Cairo by police, who warn that Bedouin groups are hijacking vehicles at gunpoint along it.
Mr Nassar's wife, Satvir, says she has felt a rising sense of panic, as it appears there is no way she and her three girls, Tasneim, 14, Aiya, 12 and Priya, 6 to get out of the volatile nation.
The Nassar family are deeply disappointed with the government's efforts to evacuate its citizens.
"America, Turkey, Saudia Arabia, all the Arab states, Asian countries, Pakistan, India are taking people from all around the place and taking them to their countries," Mr Nasser said.
"Australia should have acted sooner to get their citizens out of Egypt and should now be doing more to help," said relative Ajmer Jhaj in an email.
"One plane on Wednesday out of Cairo to Frankfurt or London is not enough and is too late. Why is the plane not flying people home to Australia?" she asked.
"Australia has decided to send a Qantas jet in Cairo and then (it's) dumping them in London or Germany, and after that they said 'You're on your own'," he added.
Mr Nassar could only be contacted on an Australian mobile, as his and his family's three Egyptian numbers were not functioning.
Protests began on January 25, after a call put out by anti-government dissidents via social networking site, Facebook.
More than 125 people have been killed in riots across the country so far, with reports of protesters setting fire to themselves.
President Hosni Mubarak has reshuffled his cabinet, but protesters are demanding he step down, with demonstration organisers calling for one million people to rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square tomorrow.
