Australians stranded on Bali are using boats to flee the holiday island rather than wait up to a week for a flight home.
Airlines are trying to clear a backlog of 100,000 passengers after Denpasar Airport finally reopened on Wednesday night as volcanic ash began to clear.
Mount Agung has been erupting since last Wednesday and more than 1,000 flights were cancelled this week as plumes of smoke spewed into the air.
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Mount Agung has been erupting since last Wednesday and more than 1,000 flights were cancelled this week as plumes of smoke spewed into the air
Airlines are trying to clear a backlog of 100,000 passengers after Denpasar Airport finally reopened on Wednesday night as volcanic ash began to clear
Qantas and Jetstar will fly 10 scheduled flight and six relief flights a day to ferry 3,800 passengers home across Australia.
Jetstar said it would start with those stranded the longest – some already waiting four days – but some passengers said the first available flight was a week away.
Others are taking matters into their own hands, booking expensive tickets to other airports like Singapore and making their way home from there.
Some are even getting buses and ferries to other Indonesian islands to fly out of other airport like Surabaya on nearby Java.
Way out: Passengers gather at the Ngurah Rai International airport in Denpasar, Bali to wait for possible flights out as the airport reopens
However, those who are still waiting could be stuck in Bali until Christmas as experts warn Mount Agung could blow any day
Keira Nolan said Jetstar told her group they couldn’t fly back to Perth until December 7 as there were so many other passengers.
‘We’re going to try and go to another airport — we’re going to catch a bus and a ferry and another bus for 12 hours or something like that,’ she told the ABC.
‘Hopefully it’s a straight direct flight not a 12-hour flight.’
Many holidaymakers have racked up thousands of dollars in new airfares, food, hotels and lost wages trying to get home.
Eva Niedzwiedz said she and her boyfriend Bevan were stuck since they were due to fly back to Perth via AirAsia on Monday.
The personal trainer said at first they took it in their stride but decided to take drastic action after their second flight was cancelled even after the airport reopened.
She said they waited in line at the airport for hours and AirAsia hung up calls before they could get through, and disconnected their online support services.
‘We’re now desperate to get home at any cost as our second flights we’re cancelled even with the airport open and other flights leaving,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
Long wait: More than 100,000 tourists have been stranded after a spike in activity at Mount Agung grounded hundreds of flights since Monday.
Bali’s Mount Agung (pictured) volcano is set to erupt within hours, with one expert warning of a ‘big explosion’
The situation can change minute by minute, I’m out of my personal medications and as I’m a personal trainer, I only make an income when I’m working.
‘I’ve now lost a weeks income, let down my clients, spent a lot of money trying to get home and am still no closer to getting home.’
The couple stumbled upon a Singapore Airlines flight heading to Singapore on Friday afternoon with two seats left, and saw it as a way out.
They have spent $3,600 out of pocket on new flights, hotels, and food in addition to lost income trying to get back to Perth.
Phil Wickham finally landed in Perth on Thursday on an AirAsia flight four days after he was supposed to return home.
He said he and his three young children spent several ‘cold, wet’ nights sleeping at the airport and it cost him $2,500 to get home.
However, those who are still waiting could be stuck in Bali until Christmas as experts warn Mount Agung could blow any day.
An explosive eruption, rather than the current gradual spewing of debris into the air, could produce so much it would take weeks to dissipate.
Qantas and Jetstar will fly 10 scheduled flight and six relief flights a day to ferry 3,800 passengers home across Australia
Many holidaymakers have racked up thousands of dollars in new airfares, food, hotels and lost wages trying to get home
A change in wind direction could also blow the ash still in the air back into the flight path and shut down the airport once again.
As a result, Jetstar asked passengers with flights booked to Bali before December 7 to consider cancelling or delaying their trip or travelling somewhere else.
The airline said it would make those changes free of charge.
Indonesian volcanologist Gede Suantika warned after a large tremor on Tuesday an observatory post near the volcano’s summit could be evacuated as the mountain entered a critical phase.
‘Small eruptions have been happening continuously but there’s still the possibility of a bigger, explosive eruption,’ said Mr Suantika.
‘Activity remains high and we are still on the highest alert level.’
Tens of thousands have already fled their homes around the volcano, which last erupted in 1963, killing around 1,600 people.
Volcanologist Dr Janine Krippner warned that Bali’s Mount Agung (pictured on Wednesday) eruption would be ‘like shaking up a bottle of Coke and then taking the lid off.’
Tens of thousands have already fled their homes around the volcano, which last erupted in 1963, killing around 1,600 people
Agung rumbled back to life in September, forcing the evacuation of 140,000 people living nearby.
Its activity decreased in late October and many returned to their homes.
However, on Saturday the mountain sent smoke up into the air for the second time in a week in what volcanologists call a phreatic eruption – caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater.
So-called cold lava flows have also appeared – similar to mud flows and often a prelude to the blazing orange lava of popular imagination.
Indonesia, the world’s most active volcanic region, lies on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.