Blue skies and fresh air have been rare in Canberra recently but on Friday morning the smoke haze that has engulfed the territory since New Year's Day had all but disappeared and many Canberrans made the most of it.
Restless children who had been cooped up inside during their school holidays were thrilled to be playing outside but even happier were parents who had ran out of indoor activities to keep their children occupied.
There were dozens of people at Boundless Playground in Parkes on Friday morning. Among those was Janet Gerrard with her daughters, Chloe, 7, and Sophie, 5.
"We've been stuck inside pretty much with no evaporative cooling the entire time the smoke has been here so it's just been nice to get out," she said.
"We've been housebound and we have done as much indoor activities as you can do with a very active seven and five-year-old. It's been pretty difficult to keep them entertained."
Ben Power was also at the park with his three children, Francis, 11, Jerome, 8, and Rueben, 6.
"The kids have been indoor for days, watching screens and playing games and they're just going stir crazy," he said.
"Pretty much the whole school holidays has been a complete write-off and it's really sad."
Mr Power said they had to leave Moruya early due to the fires. He urged government action on climate change.
"It would be good to see the government take the issue of climate change seriously because climate change is undeniably driving this and so it's about time we did something about it," he said.
Children have not only been prevented from outdoor play time but indoor play time has also been affected.
Questacon was closed for most of the week due to poor air quality inside the building. The institution opened on Friday and had used the day before to flush out the air in the building, Questacon director Professor Graham Durant said.
"It's great we now have fresh air... we've got some really nice readings inside as we have outside," he said.
"I think the whole spirit of the city has lifted with the clean air coming in."
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Professor Durant said the institution had been busy on Friday but had not received the amount of guests he would expect at this time of year.
"That is understandable because people are not around in Canberra they have been going to search for fresh air elsewhere and the uncertainty around whether institutions are opened or closed it's probably led a few people to change plans," he said.
On Friday at 11am, the air quality was either good or very good across the three ACT stations, but it had dropped to fair at the Florey and Monash stations by 5pm.
Smoke haze was forecast on Friday evening and Saturday morning, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Meteorologist Rob Taggart said a southwesterly would blow smoke from the Dunns Road and Adaminaby Complex fires on Friday evening.
An easterly will blow smoke from fires at the South Coast on Saturday morning.
Mr Taggart could not comment on the level of smoke but said he expected the easterly to blow a "reasonable amount". He said the Brindabellas could somewhat block smoke from the southwesterly.
