Little Pests...

The New Zealand Sandfly has been put on this earth to torment me. I have just recovered from bites to my arm and back from a trip to Milford Sound when walking home last night the little pests attacked my knees!

As a result of genetics I react badly to bites (thanks mum!) so in a day or two these bites will be spectacular! But are they are small price to pay for being here?

As Sir Ian McKellen was once quoted,

"As an unpaid but enthusiastic proselytiser on behalf of all things kiwi, including the New Zealand tourist industry, I hesitate to mention the well-kept secret of sandflies, if that's their proper name. I first met them en masse at the glorious Milford Sound, where visitors (after the most beautiful drive in the world) are met, at least during the summer, by crowds of the little buggers. There are patent unctions which cope, and tobacco repels them too, but I hope you reckoned them an insignificant pest compared with the glory of their habitat.

Oddly, when filming I don't recall them at all. Honestly. Had there been, we would have set the Orcs on them"