Should Disasters Halt Travel to Australia or Puerto Rico? : Outlook: Wildfires and a massive oil spill have left resort areas damaged but not off-limits.

Australia-bound? Proceed with caution, and expect a substantial portion of the national parkland to be black and crunchy.

Puerto Rico? Don’t cancel your plans, but if your arrival date is in the next week or two, prepare for the sight of oil-spill cleanup crews along the island’s most prominent mile and a half of beaches.

From any angle, the images of last week’s fires in New South Wales and oil spill off Puerto Rico were troubling. Authorities say that some of the affected territory, most notably Australia’s Royal National Park, may not be the same for generations. And as of this writing, on Wednesday, scores of fires were still burning, many still out of control. But if you’re a traveler already holding tickets to either accident-marred destination--or if you’re contemplating a trip to those locales--take a much closer look before you abandon plans. Along with the devastation in Australia, you’re likely to find some reassuring news about most of the country’s top tourist attractions. In Puerto Rico, the spill trouble is much milder, the recovery projections quicker.

The bush fires in southeast Australia--more than 150 of them, more than half attributed to arsonists--began to break out in the first days of this month. About 1.5 million acres of grassland and forest in the state of New South Wales have burned. Some flames rose in Sydney’s suburbs, destroying more than 200 homes, killing four people. But downtown Sydney, its picturesque harbor, bridge and opera house all escaped damage. Airline schedules are normal, and though highway access and rail service were curtailed during the worst of the fires, authorities said all those routes should be functioning as normal by now. (Australia’s three other most visible destinations lie well clear of the afflicted area: Ayers Rock, about 1,000 miles to the northwest; the Great Barrier Reef, about 600 miles north at its southernmost point; Melbourne, about 400 miles southwest.)

Among wilderness destinations outside Sydney, however, the damage is considerable. About two dozen of the 70 national parks in the state closed during the fires, either because of immediate flames or to reduce fire risks posed by 100-degree temperatures and 60 m.p.h. winds.

The prime casualty--98% charred--was the 37,099-acre Royal National Park, a retreat of cliff-top hiking paths, surfing beaches and river rowboating about 20 miles south of Sydney. Ken Ayres, a district manager for the Wildlife Service there, told the Associated Press that “the park will start growing with the first rain, but it will be generations before it returns to what it was.” Royal is the world’s second oldest national park, predated only by Yellowstone in the United States.

The Blue Mountains, a popular destination about 30 miles northwest of Sydney, were blackened in the Grose Valley area and many others; as of Tuesday, fire had reached an estimated 250,000 acres of the 2 million acres in the area’s several national parks. But one of that area’s most popular tourist spots, the Three Sisters rock formation and Echo Point lookout, was unaffected. Authorities said bus tours to the Three Sisters and other attractions are still being offered, but off-road tours and other activities in the park system were closed.

Authorities said fire also affected parts of Morton National Park, a 377,931-acre preserve that guidebook authors John and Monica Chapman say includes “the best bushwalking in the state.”

(More information on Australia is available from the Australian Tourist Commission, 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1200, Los Angeles 90067 (telephone 310- 552-1988) or the Australian Consulate, 611 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles 90004 (tel. 213-469-4300).

In Puerto Rico, the trouble began Jan. 7 when the barge Morris J. Berman hit a coral reef and spilled 750,000 gallons of heating oil, coating an estimated 20 square miles of ocean. Cleanup operations collected a large share of the spill, but the damaged areas included Puerto Rico’s most visible beaches--the Condado area near San Juan. There, the spill fouled six miles of shoreline, including a 1.5-mile stretch of beaches that serve the island’s primary group of international hotels, now in their peak tourist season.

Local authorities said the odor of petroleum lifted in the first few days, and estimated that the beach cleanup would take two to three weeks. The nearest hotels to the spill, the landmark Caribe Hilton and the Art Deco Radisson Normandie, pledged free transportation to other beaches. (Puerto Rico has some 258 miles of beaches.) The neighboring Condado Plaza, Regency, Condado Beach and La Concha hotels made similar offers.

San Juan is a busy stop for Miami-based cruise ship traffic, and its port lies within walking distance of the oil-stained beaches. But Lawrence Fishkin, president of The Cruise Line, a clearinghouse of information on the industry, said the spill and cleanup have had no effect on ship schedules.

(More information on Puerto Rico is available from the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., P.O. Box 025268, Dept. H, Miami, Fla. 33102 (tel. 800-223-6530 or 212-599-6262.)

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Reynolds travels anonymously at the newspaper’s expense, accepting no special discounts or subsidized trips.