Flies etc
 

We are considering making our first visit to Australia in Feb 2008. My wife is a prime target for flying insects of any type. We hear horror stories about Oz flies but cannot get any specific geographical information. Can anyone advise us on how bad the 'fly' situation is likely to be in Victoria at that time of year.

Hi Prosy: Unless you are planning on a bbq in the bush, you are unlikely to see more flies in Victoria than you would in the US countryside. http://www.cirrusimage.com/flies.htm

These "horror stories about flies" go along with all the other rubbish which appears to do the rounds about Australia from time to time.

Sharks, crocks & jellies lurking in every bit of water,spiders & snakes in marauding hoardes etc., etc.

All your wife needs to do is use some insect repellent when outdoors in the countryside. That way, if there is something zapping around, it will not bother her. :)

You don't say where in Victoria you'll be travelling. It's a sizeable chunk of land with a range of climates, landforms and vegetation, so generalisation isn't possible, even if there were a reliable way to predict fly breeding patterns. I agree with Bokhara - it pays to take "horror stories" with a grain of salt.

I could tell you a couple of horror stories, but they would all be from Northern Territory, as opposed to Vic.

Many thanks for your comforting remarks. It would seem the Oz fly horror stories are put out by the NZ tourist board!

If you stay in the cities or towns there is almost no problem.
But, I agree, you haven't said where you will travel.
This does make a difference. In more rural and remote areas, especially with it being so hot and dry, there ARE plenty of flies, and they can drive you nuts.
Two recent camping trips - in NSW - were bad. But you can get cheap fly traps (the ones that you add water to and hang in a tree). They work great, but put them upwind of your camp!!

I took a four-day tour from Sydney to Melbourne back in December, 2006. We stopped at a beach two hours from Melbourne and the flies were just terrible--even on the beach. I put a towel over my shoulders and kept hitting myself on the face with the towel. Even in the water, the flies followed me out. The water is very cold, otherwise, I would have swam underwater.

Moral--stay in the larger cities and you will be fine.

My first day in OZ (Cairns), years ago, I kept seeing these silly looking hats with corks hanging down from the brim, all the way around. I thought "WHY would anyone want such a funny looking hat?" I found out... but only while in the NT. It's to keep the flies from getting INSIDE your sunglasses and bugging the h%%%out of you.

Ha! Don't believe those folks who posted above who are inclined to minimize the effects of those pesky flies outside rural areas of Australia!

I speak from first-hand experience. Last October in Sydney, I was totally bombarded by zillions of the persistent little beasts that wanted nothing more than to crawl straight down my ear canals.

Reduced almost to tears, I bought a product called Aerogard which helped deflect them a bit. Fortunately their numbers varied according to the humidity levels, it seems. The higher the humidity, the more flies. I was even tempted to buy one of those hats with the dangling corks, but vanity prevailed.

Thanks again for the advice. As we are not really city types, staying away from rural areas would seriously curtail our proposed itinerary. My wife is not thrilled at the prospect of bathing daily in insect repellent or wearing the equivalent of a beekeepers outfit - however she's quite good at generating corks from wine bottles; perhaps that's the solution!

Betsy - where on earth in Sydney were you?

Or are you joking.

I was here all through October 2006 - ditto many previous Octobers - and if there were one or two big buzzing intruders in the kitchen all month that's all!!

So I am really curious to hear more about your experience.

I think it would be an awful shame, Prosy if you cancel your trip due to an unlikliehood of a fly infestation in rural Victoria.

Have just travelled the fly-free perimeter of rural Tasmania and very recently about same area in Far North Qld. In FNQ this problem would certainly be apparent in outback town of Almaden, aka "Cowtown". The small town is unfenced from cattle, there are cowpats everywhere. But still fly- free - dung beetle must be doing its job here.

Betsy, lived in Sydney and environs for some 40 Octobers, and like chimani have never seen anything remotely as you described. Would be interested to hear further comments.

No joke. Not too many details to report, Pat and chimani. Just lucky, I guess. I encountered the flies on about three days of our month-long trip and certainly wouldn't cancel a trip to Australia because of them.

For four of our nine nights in Sydney, we stayed at Darling Harbor. Two of those days were humid, and the humidity seemed to draw the flies. I remember waiting at the ferry stop by the aquarium in total misery trying to keep the flies out of my eyes, ears, nose and mouth. We also encountered heavy swarms on land and water during our day on the Hawkesbury river. On other days in Sydney and the environs, there were few, if any, flies.

We experienced no flies in Melbourne, Tasmania or the Great Barrier Reef. We weren't sure why, but the critters weren't as highly attracted to my husband. I was not wearing a perfume or cologne, so that wasn't the trigger.

Overall, Australia was awesome, and we can't wait to get back there, flies or no flies!

Betsy, you didn't experience an alternate universe last October! My friends were in Sydney at the same time and had a couple of days with awful flies, too. Guess you and they just hit the jackpot (fly-wise, anyway.) We are going there THIS October and the fly story did not keep us from booking, either! But it did alert us to bring some repellant, just in case.
Sally in Seattle

Oh whew, Sally. I was beginning to wonder.... You may want to buy the repellant there as it may be formulated especially for the Aussie flies. I understand Aerogard was introduced especially for the Queen when she was in Australia a few years ago.

Now that there have been significant rains across wide areas of Australia, it is unlikely that we will see the fly plague Betsy, Sally & Wally experienced, this year.

There were more than usual flies because the prolonged dry spell had curtailed the normal vigorous breeding of snakes, lizards, frogs and spiders that takes place in Australia every Spring and Summer. Normally,they keep the fly population down to a manageable level, but, of course, during dry spells such as we have experienced over the last few years, there simply have not been enough of these predators to do so. And, as you 3 experienced, there WERE too many flies. But, be assured, there will be plenty of snakes, mice, lizards, frogs, spiders ... and a few Qld canetoads too no doubt, this year to alleviate the problem.

I think you are right Sperry. I was in Sydney just about all of last October and had no fly problem but I was told by a local of many years, today, that they are attracted by some people's personal smells. Can't think it would have anything to do with personal cleanliness but that could be the reason.

"I understand Aerogard was introduced especially for the Queen when she was in Australia a few years ago."

- Who told you that one, Betsy?

Actually, Neil it was a special formulation of aeroguard to keep away pesky republicans.

Should've known you'd have the answer, John.

Actually I could imagine a special Aerogard being produced for Her Maj's first visit in 1954, when half the population turned out to wave little Union Jacks and cheer - but there weren't too many pesky Republicans around in those days.

These days a Royal visit attracts so little interest that even pesky republicans* like me can't be bothered to mount a boycott.

* American readers please note: that's "republican" with a small "r" and nothing whatever to do with the US political party of that name.