DEET is the business, but it's not nice to nylon and other synthetics. When we used to climb down that way we'd use a mixture of baby oil and dettol to avoid worrying about our ropes and slings. Needs a good shake immediately before applying, needs re-application every few hours, smells more than DEET, but it does work!

Sure DEET works ok, but a cheaper and better alternative is 50% baby oil and 50% Dettol.

oldandlazy wrote:DEET is the business, but it's not nice to nylon and other synthetics. When we used to climb down that way we'd use a mixture of baby oil and dettol to avoid worrying about our ropes and slings. Needs a good shake immediately before applying, needs re-application every few hours, smells more than DEET, but it does work!

x2

Just be careful with your goretex gear if you're using repellent. I've read that the DEET stuff can damage it (as mentioned above).

If you lather yourself in baby oil, any insect landing on your skin will drown in the oil.

dont bother with any 'natural' ones from, for example, krapmandu. i used one of these on the Heaphy, and did a test one day, where i slathered the stuff on and then watched as sandflies landed ON the still wet 'repellent'... it was crap.

as mentioned above, dont stop moving is always the best strategy.

with deet. worry about cancer in years to come. its so toxic, it MUST be carcinogenic

swtchbckr wrote:with deet. worry about cancer in years to come. its so toxic, it MUST be carcinogenic

Camped on the west coast a few weeks ago. I think the sandfies drink deet..

Even covered up + deet(50%) they'd bite my scalp through hair etc... Dont stop. Ever...

An aside: At the marae in Bruce Bay (Te Tauraka Waka a Maui) the wharenui (Kaipo) has a tukutuku panel design I have never seen anywhere else in the country, called 'namunamu', and symbolising the very many sandflies you might encounter just outside.

Some other tips: they will be worst in humid conditions and are attracted to dark colours. They are voracious at Paringa. We always stop there too as a break between Fox and Haast. If you were intending to camp at the DOC campground, have a think about the motel units instead. The place has been through quite a few changes of ownership over the last 15 or so years we've been touring through (still miss the fantastic old cabins they had, and you can still the vacant building that once housed a brilliant and completely unexpected cafe - we discovered it after riding all day in the pouring rain, unpacking everything in the cabin and turning heaters on full, then raved about it for years to anyone who would listen, before returning ourselves only to find the gourmet, cyclist-sized meals had been replaced by standard, average takeaways, and then later closed). We were last touring through early last year, and the units were cheap and facilities good. (In contrast with the phases where it's been awful but expensive).

By the way, anyone touring the Coast (or coming over for any other reason really) always welcome to stay at our place (we're just south east of Greymouth, a couple of kms past Shantytown). Just have to get up the hill, but we do it, so you can too!

Kevin Hague wrote:An aside: At the marae in Bruce Bay (Te Tauraka Waka a Maui) the wharenui (Kaipo) has a tukutuku panel design I have never seen anywhere else in the country, called 'namunamu', and symbolising the very many sandflies you might encounter just outside.

Some other tips: they will be worst in humid conditions and are attracted to dark colours. They are voracious at Paringa. We always stop there too as a break between Fox and Haast. If you were intending to camp at the DOC campground, have a think about the motel units instead. The place has been through quite a few changes of ownership over the last 15 or so years we've been touring through (still miss the fantastic old cabins they had, and you can still the vacant building that once housed a brilliant and completely unexpected cafe - we discovered it after riding all day in the pouring rain, unpacking everything in the cabin and turning heaters on full, then raved about it for years to anyone who would listen, before returning ourselves only to find the gourmet, cyclist-sized meals had been replaced by standard, average takeaways, and then later closed). We were last touring through early last year, and the units were cheap and facilities good. (In contrast with the phases where it's been awful but expensive).

Thanks for the heads up Kevin! I will definitely be getting a motel unit if the beasties are voracious there.

Kevin Hague wrote:By the way, anyone touring the Coast (or coming over for any other reason really) always welcome to stay at our place (we're just south east of Greymouth, a couple of kms past Shantytown). Just have to get up the hill, but we do it, so you can too!

Vorb mobbing of the Hague residence anyone?

Here's my billy that had been sitting alongside the frying pan while I cooked breakfast. It got a bit of oil on the lid and then we boiled it for a drink. Later when we returned from a walk, the sandflies had been attracted to the warm billy and stuck to the lid...

Long sleeves and jeans are by far the best. It's what all the locals wear. Repellent is for blouses.

phunk wrote:

Kevin Hague wrote:By the way, anyone touring the Coast (or coming over for any other reason really) always welcome to stay at our place (we're just south east of Greymouth, a couple of kms past Shantytown). Just have to get up the hill, but we do it, so you can too!

Vorb mobbing of the Hague residence anyone?

Prediction for a thread in two weeks time:
"Which air freshener to ward off the stench of three dozen vorbers?"