stinging nettle

Rubbing dock leaves on the affected area helps hide the pain.

Being really observant and not walking through that stuff in the first place works best. Having said that my mate stood on a wasp nest on the way into duckville he was moving quite quickly and had moved on I walked into a few very angry wasps who proceeded to sting my wrist, stomach, knee and ear. jumping sideways in a desperate attempt to get away (completely forgetting I was on the side of a hill) I promply fell into a complete bush of onga onga which pmcke will attest to is head high in the valley. I can tell you the combined effects take about 5 days to ease and I am not allergic to either nasty.

Oh and i now carry antihistamines in my medical kit as a matter of course

When its overgrowing both sides of the track its hard to miss. Its nice when you are carefully avoiding it on the right the feel it bush over the left arm and face. Luckily the face missed the important bits but the arm looked like it had been a fraction to close to the camp fire. A while ago when 4wding I walked round the side of the wagon and something brushed my shin. Turned rounf and wiped my other calf mussel though a patch of the smaller nettle. 3 months later all the skin fell off. Dock leaves do work well but there isnt many in the bush

Yeah, its a shame dock is not common in the bush. Maybe we should start taking dock seed heads into the bush and sprinkling it around groves of onga onga. I am certain DOC would be highly supportive of the initiative. My tramping outfit is now long pants and long sleeves with a legionnaire style hat. Its main purpose is to protect my skin from the Sun but it also works great against other painful things in the bush.