Welcome to NZ

If I’d met sandflies before this trip in 1996, I certainly do not remember it.

First Sandfly Crazed Experience

John (boyfriend then, husband now) and I camped at the Welcome Flat trailhead on the West Coast in late afternoon getting ready for a walk the next day.   As evening approached the sandflies got incredibly hectic and hungry.

There was another couple there that had on these nets like bee keepers and gloves on the hands totally covered and calmly making their dinner. John and I were a bit more jerky in our motions stirring and swiping, and swiping and chopping, and cooking and swiping. We dove into our tent, dispatched the sandflies that followed us in, and ate our dinner listening to the sound of “sandfly rain” on the fly of our tent.

I mentioned to John that those hats with nets were pretty great. He mumbled something about tourists and being very uncool.

Over the next week I learned that I responded very badly to bites, that they itched worse at night (why is that?) and that I did not want to attend any more sandfly parties.

And so began my learning about the great NZ sandfly country.  Sandflies are a part of the Kiwi culture, and as such, Kiwis are usually more relaxed about dealing with them.

The Shaping of Mrs. Sandfly

Really, who would write in a high school yearbook, “Most likely to be Mrs. Sandfly”?  It’s a crazy path we create, and yet, here we are just in this moment….Mrs. Sandfly.  Creating Goodbye Sandfly on a whim over a summer’s guiding has allowed the most unexpected results.

From 15 years of Kiwi influenced sandfly country experience, I have come to see that NZ sandflies are iconic.  They can shape our perception, sometimes for the bad and sometimes with humour.  All efforts at providing information through Goodbye Sandfly reflect my desire that people have a better experience as a result of a little knowledge, and maybe even some laughing.