Four reasons NOT to like NZ

Reason one; sandflies
Reason two; sandflies
Reason three; sandflies
Reason four (indeed); sandflies!!!!!

NZ is a wonderful country to be travelling in but the sandflies do make me understand why Mt DOOM figured in a certain movie filmed here. If they had really wanted to punish the British convicts, they should have sent them without insect repellent (our favourite is called 'byebye sandfly' btw) to NZ instead of to Australia. That would have tought them a bloody lesson, literally!

The first time I was confronted with these blood sucking and poison injecting creatures (would make a nice script for an Alien movie) was in Gore while walking in the garden. At first, I thought they were just flies but when I saw them taking of, slightly bigger and with a red tummy, I realised there was something terribly wrong. That night, I was punished for my ignorance as it felt as if my legs were burning. Never in my life had I longed for an ice cold shower before. Chopping of my valuable and highly appreciated legs also felt like a tempting option. These bites were way more itching than the ordinary Dutch or Swedish mosquito bites.

When I shared my vampire ordeal the next morning,I was told the bites would last for a couple of days! For once I was happy that Anna is un-capable of throwing away things and also tend to over-pack, as some Ecuadorian potion 'bug itching killing' stuff in the bottom of her toilet bag proved to come very handy. The itching cooled down and became bareable again.

At beautiful Pelarus Bridge (close to Nelson), we were literally attacked by sworms of these Kiwi guerillas. We managed to escape to our van but even there, they managed to come in through all kind of small holes. As a true Braveheart, I fought off the attacks protecting my ladies. I now understand why you always need to have a stack of brochures in your car! Both Anna and I were a few bites ritcher but Junia managed to survive the attack unhurt.

What I do not understand is that nobody had ever mentioned the ferosity of these creatures. I had just heard positive stories about NZ but this was never shared. It is something to be aware of though. Sitting outside at dawn or dusk is just not an option at some places.

Anyway, I am now sitting in the Sandfly cafe in Te Anau and the Latte tastes delicious. I wish all Sandflies were this nice! Attached two pictures I took during one of our walks. Hope you can read the text. I agree with Cook! Also is an example of the damage the beasts do, Håkan is modelling here.