wheels 543 Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 You need to stay there till they get to know you, then they stop stinging No BB, these suckers are not the average sandlfly. These are miniture Vampires. You will be sucked dry to a crisp while they are getting to know you. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Yeh for sure. I used to get attacked here in Gisborne for the first couple of years but not any more. I wonder if they do go for the locals in fiordland. Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Pope 243 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Kero also known as parrafin (slightly more refined perhaps? ) was a standard in almost every first aid kit and was often prescribed for various ailments, along with friars balsam, iodine, gentian violet, etc. etc. Link to post Share on other sites
Atom Ant 0 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Yes it was, but it is outdated now and has been for around 20 years. There are far better & non toxic options available. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I seem to remember some ancients trying to cure patients by removing Blood, and doeses of poisons like Arsenic and Lead. I seem to remember reading about that is, not actually remember. Although I am quite surprised that many bases for special creams for skin alergies etc are made from Parafin or mineral oil. I am quite surprised that mineral oil is still used as "Baby Oil" even today. Link to post Share on other sites
Atom Ant 0 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Yes Wheels you are absolutely correct, & vaseline too is a petroleum based product. Popular as anything, but it has no place in my house or first aid kit. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I seem to remember some ancients trying to cure patients by removing Blood, and doeses of poisons like Arsenic and Lead. They even tried to cure syphilis with mercury! Man spends his first 20 years on Earth, a couple of minutes on Venus and the rest of his life on Mercury. Link to post Share on other sites
weap10 5 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Ha don't let the sandflies scare ya off, they're friendly little buggers. Out of the above advice dettol and baby oil is the best. If you use deet, it doesn't matter on the concentration just that is has some. Deet is designed for mossies not sandflies though so it doesn't work that well. None of the herbal/natural repellents work at all. The sandflies do go away after dark so you can sit under the stars worry free. You could try and make some sort of flyscreen for your deck hatches/vents/doorway because you really don't want them inside at dawn. Rumour has it Te-hine-nui-te-po gave us the sandflies to keep us from being lazy! I've lived in Milford Sound for ten years and they still bite me but I don't get an itch anymore. If you decide to cruise Fiordland get a copy of Mana cruising clubs - A boaties guide to Fiordland. It is a bit out of date but pretty good. Heres some general tips. Its not uncommon to have 40kts coming down the narrower fiords on a sunny afternoon. If it is blowing 30kts outside the fiords it will be blowing 50 inside at the narrow parts. In the winter it is not uncommon to have 25-30kts SE coming out of the fiords and nothing in between them. Weather in the winter is more settled, and the sandflies are a lot easier to deal with. The steep walls create crazy whirly-walls and wind fronts from all directions - even straight up. Look out for logs, especially if there have been high tides/storms. Some float straight up and down. Look out for crayfish bouys they can be anywhere. VHF contact with Taupo doesn't generally work in the fiords. Fisherman don't bite especially if you feed them beer. They do start work bloody early though if you share an anchorage with them. The fiords to the north are the steepest and narrowest, the landscape changes gradually to flatter and broader the further south you go. The northern fiords are more dramatic and remote (except milford) but the southern fiords have more to explore and better anchorages. Anchorages are generally deep. So have lots of rode. I see anywhere between 15-30 cruising yachts every year. So its pretty quiet. Thats all I can think of at the moment. Its a beautiful place that you will never forget if you visit, I moved into Fiordland National Park when I was 18 to save some cash to go overseas. I'm 29 and still here. Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Cool. Helpful post and info. Sounds a bit of a handful though. I mean one of those vertical fiordland gusts is just gonna blow the rum out of my glass quicker than I can drink it, right? And I drink it pretty damn quick. Wonder how it compares to other fiords e.g. Scandanavia? Link to post Share on other sites
AJ Oliver 154 Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Has anyone tried the "water bag" trick on the South Island sand flies... ? You seem em all over Florida in outdoor bistros, cafes, etc.. http://www.ehow.com/facts_7707392_water ... llent.html Tortured by the really voracious Canadian stable flies out on the Great Lakes, some sailors even hang the bags from their lifelines. Desperate people will try most anything Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Wonder how it compares to other fiords e.g. Scandanavia? I have only seen a little of it, but I have to say it has to be the most wild and beautiful place on earth. It's remoteness and ruggedness is what makes it so breathtaking. In fact Milford is partly ruined by the number of Tourists, but then, everyone should have a chance of seeing at least some of it. It has to surely the only place on Earth that looks so different in different weather and so increadible whether it is raining or not. And man can it rain. And to give you an idea of how wild and rugged the place is, they are still trying to find Moose and still believe they may exist, yet no one has actually definitively seen one yet. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Cool. Helpful post and info. Sounds a bit of a handful though. I mean one of those vertical fiordland gusts is just gonna blow the rum out of my glass quicker than I can drink it, right? And I drink it pretty damn quick. Wonder how it compares to other fiords e.g. Scandanavia? considered similar to Patagonia Link to post Share on other sites
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