March Flys – Thurra River Camp Ground
The other day my grandson Nicky told me that flys spew on their food and then suck it up.
Nicky has a book filled with this sort of valuable information so I guess that’s where the info came from and I suppose it’s right. I’m guessing that march flys would work the same way. Bite you, soew in the blood and suck up, leaving the reisue spew behind. Well, if that’s the case, no wonder they hurt a bit and no wonder they swell up a bit and take a few days to heal.
Camping at Thurra River, near Point Hicks, in Croajingolong National Park in Victoria’,s East Gippsland, I had an experience with march flys that beats all other march fly experiences I’ve ever had.
There were a few march flys at my camp which was a couple of hundred metres inland, in the bush. About as many as is normal when march flys are bad. Ya swat the odd one and get on with it.
It was time to head to the river with soap and shampoo for a clean up after two days camping in summer weather. So off I went with my bucket, towel and bare minimum personal products.
On the beach, the march flys were worse as I headed along toward the mouth of the Thurra River, maybe half a kilometre.
On reaching the mouth, I managed to get across the small, tidal inflow crossing the sand bank, with the biggest waves salting up the fresh water, the Thurra River having stopped running due to the continuing drought conditions.
As I approached the bush beside the river, the march flys descended on me in hordes, my bare legs and arms a target for their bites, spew and feeding.
I’ve never seen so many march flys at one time in all my born days. It was not difficult to swat two with one swipe and sometimes I got three. Some stuck to my legs in a mess of blood and guts, while others fell into my boots, the majority falling to the sand at my feet.
The march flys were incessant. The more I killed, the more attacked me.
Finding a suitable spot near the river but a little way into the teatree scrub, I got my boots and socks off and waded in for a bucket of water.
With my gear off I was a proper target for the march flys and they took full advantage.
Wetting my skin down didn’t help but the soap beat the march flys.
There must be something about Palmolive Gold that march flies don’t like. Maybe it’s the taste or the smell, or maybe the soap suds get up their nose and they can’t breathe. Anyway, as long as I stood there, all wet and soapy, the march flys kept their distance, but as soon as I rinsed off they took to me again.
Well, as you can imagine, all sweet and lovely, I got dressed as quickly as I could. I wrapped my towel around as a skirt to protect my bare legs a bit and got going. March flys followed me along the beach, attacking my bare ankles and feet as well as my arms.
On arriving back at camp I hunted through the stuff and was relieved to find a bottle of insect repellent, effective for six hours.
The change was dramatic! I recommend Aerogard Insect Repellent Spray – Tropical Strength for march flys.
Ya know, I reckon I killed more march flys in those couple of days at Thurra River and Point Hicks that I have in all my life.
Croajingolong National Park, situated on the Wilderness Coast in East Gippsland, Victoria, houses many access points and camping spots.
My area is around Point Hicks, Point Hicks Lighthouse, Thurra River, Thurra Dunes, Mueller River, Camp Creek, and the surrounding tidal inlets and bush.
Point Hicks, or maybe it was really Mount Everard, about 15 kilometres inland, was the first land sighting of Captain Cook in the endevour. In fact it was Lieutenant Zachery Hicks, in the crows nest, who sighted land and cried “Land a-hoy!”
