go to rebel sport look for army insect repellant works like a dream !!!!!!
Aparently the old west coasters would take a tea spoon of kerosene mixed with sugar. The reckoned it would last a season. However I wouldn't recommend it.
From my experience you can slap on anything that you like, the sandfly will find the one spot on your body that you missed.
I have found that with time you become immune to them. While they remain a nuisance, you won't swell up.
The worst sand flys I experieced was camping in the corner of Murray Gunn's horse paddock in the Holyford. We were too cheap to stay in Murray's cabins but I think he had the last laugh when he suggested we camp there.
However the midges in the Outer Hebridies Islands in Scotland have to take the cake. I had a tent with no floor in it and the only way I found to get away from them was to either stand on a fence post (they only rise about 2m from the ground) or go to the pub. I did both.
Resurrecting this thread after my first visit to the south island, does anything actually work against these dreaded sandflies?
On each of the 5 multiday trips we did, plus a couple of day walks and just hanging around pestered by the them. We both brought some insect deterents supposedly effective against them, but nether worked.
The sandflies are no trouble when you are moving but stopping for a river crossing, or anywhere in shelter from the wind they were murderous :-(
I found them more annoying the Scottish midge of which I have loads of experience of, there's usually less of the sandflies, but their bites itch longer I'm sure.
Re: another post from above and the Scottish midge, Avon So Soft works very well as an effective repellent and actually smells reasonable too and contains no chemicals to worry about.
I still stand by my comment above that 30-40% DEET actually works. I don't know if anything else does but if so I haven't found it. You need to cover all exposed skin every 4 hours (possibly more if you're sweating a lot), and reapply after river crossings. It's a pain in the neck, but if you're like me and a single sandfly bite means being up every 1-2 hours every night for the next 2 weeks, it's worth it!
People who've grown up getting bitten often get immune to their local sandflies but if they go elsewhere in the South Island some will still react to "foreign" sandflies.
PS my sister also used to be really bugged by sandflies but now takes Telfast at the maximum dose whenever she's in NZ. She takes it for hayfever but sandfly bites hardly bother her at all when she's on it. Something I might try some day. Not cheap though, perhaps $2-3/day???
What works for some I suppose, my mate had 30-40% DEET repellent and that didn't work, and I later got 80% DEET which worked no better/no worse.
I've just returned from the Rees-Dart and had little problem with the dreaded sandfly. I took B1 complex for about 4 weeks prior to going and made up a mixture of 1/3 baby oil, 1/3 dettol and 1/3 meths, with a touch of either citronella or tea tree oil. Worked a treat, just avoid the eyes.
I purchase a small bottle of "OFF! Skintastic personal insect spray... I have found that it works very well and does a good job at keeping the buggers from biting.
The active ingredients are
- 69.75g/L of DEET
- 27.9g/L of Di-n-propyl Isocinchomeronate
I also wear long sleeve shirts, pants and a legionnaire style hat which results in little exposed skin.
I was overseas a little while ago and there were these insect repellent wrist bands which were quite popular and apparently work quite well. Has anybody used them before? I haven't seen any for sale in NZ.
It really appealed to me as I've never really liked the idea of using insect repellent that contains DEET as it's apparently quite toxic; coupled with the fact that I have to constantly reapply every couple of hours which is just a real hassle.
These bands apparently works for up to 18 hours, isn't affected by water (or sweat) and is a LOT less hassle to use than the other insect repellent I've used.
My only concern is the effectiveness of these things but they were quite cheap so I bought a box to try out. Hopefully they'll work. If anyone else is interested in giving them a try let me know and I'll give you a couple to try.
Sorry for dragging this thread up again.
Whiskey mixed with stones...
Sandflies get drunk and throw stones at each other!
Interesting advice, but obviously not a Scotsman...........it's whisky not Whiskey.
