Bug off!

How to keep the little buzzers from spoiling your holiday

As the hot holiday season fast approaches, outdoors people are turning their minds to restocking the larder and other supplies in the camper trailer or caravan in preparation for their next adventure.

A good supply of ‘slip,slop slap’ nowadays to fill space in our storage compartments is one of the best preventative strategies, and the other should be some sort of insect repellent -- be it wipe or spray on or mechanical.

I’ve had more than the odd, foolish and preventable dose of sunburn over the years and are regularly reminded when I line up to get weirdly named skin ailments burnt or frozen off at the Mole Clinic.

I’ve also been on the receiving end of mosquito borne diseases, namely Ross River Virus and the even worse ailment of viral meningitis; the latter brings a new meaning to migraine headache!

Five days sedated in a blackened room at Darwin Private Hospital riding out the fever was the only treatment available to me and the other eight inpatients suffering the same disease at the time, whilst an eight-year-old boy had contracted the bacterial strain, which proved fatal.

Tonne of flies

So given my experiences, it’s not surprising I always have some sort of insect repellent close hand.

I’ve worked out on the floodplains of the Northern Territory post-wet season where the volume of airborne bugs was often frightening, with swarms blotting out starlight and the only respite from their onslaught being the inner sanctum of a hot and breeze-less tent or mesh gazebo used as a dining room.

Kid me not, the volume of these pests caused the gazebo screens to sag under their live weight, as they swarmed towards the light, and every couple of days I’d have to scrape their carcasses off the surrounding ground with a shovel to alleviate the rotting odour! Doesn’t sound like fun, but the barramundi fishing made it worth the hassle.

Spray can at hand

So what’s the best way to thwart the seemingly endless varieties of bugs that bite and sting?

Well, there’s an array of commercially available sprays and creams that work, and some home brew concoctions that can also do the job.

If going to the tropics, sprays and potions should be tropical strength as their effectiveness is rapidly diluted due to perspiration.

Good repellents that come to mind include Bushman’s, Rid, and Aerogard. There was also one really effective one called ‘Scram’ that seems to have disappeared from the supermarket shelves. I recall it being around 50 years ago but not for the past decade or so.

What the effects of any of these repellents are on the human body is anyone’s guess. The ingredients must to some extent be absorbed through the skin and more than one of the afore-mentioned sprays would dissolve the vinyl of my Toyota Landcruiser’s seats!

Pricey option

Good quality insect repellents don’t come cheap and when a large volume is required for an extended trip it can add up at the cash register.

But there’s a home brew you can make that’s simple, cheap and easy to prepare: it’s baby oil and Dettol mixed 50/50 and dispensed with an atomiser from one of those $2 shops. As with any of these repellents the smell of it on your hands will likely lessen your chances of catching fish if you handle terminal tackle.

Stinky solution

Not all repellents need to be applied externally. What we eat often permeates the body and exits the skin pores so whether in the sticky tropics or southern climes, various body odours can deter some insects.

Garlic comes to mind; just make sure everyone at camp overdoses so they don’t mind.

Another is Vitamin B, which is less offensive than garlic and easily ingested in the form of Berocca (tablet or powder form) mixed up into an effervescent drink. Get rid of mozzies and a hangover at the same time! One a day will help with protection.

Lower the lights

When LED lighting flooded the market about 10 years ago I tested white lights against yellow lights out in the tropical Northern Territory bushland.

Suffice to say, yellow lighting around camp attracted around 50 per cent less insect life than when using low-energy LEDs.

The trick is to keep the lighting away from entrances and have it bright enough so that you rely just on that rather than any other lighting inside or near to camp accommodation.

I once tried one of those purple lit 240 volt mozzie zappers which ran of the camp genset, but the appliance rapidly choked with bugs, big and small, and fused itself in a smoking molten and smelly mess! Next idea…

Cover up

Insect proof clothing is another option although in the sticky hot tropics isn’t always practical. Some breeds of mosquitoes can easily pierce denim jeans and coverall or overall material with their stingers, so a combination of medicinal and clothing protection is the safest bet.

A sensible location for your campsite can also help keep the bugs at bay. Still swampy areas are prime breeding grounds for mosquitoes and the water area doesn’t have to be large; a small puddle could be a haven for breeding mozzies.

They don’t necessarily need a constant supply of water and can breed and hold up under the damp bark of trees and under large leaf foliage.

Automatic dispenser

Not all airborne pests sting or bite. The common bush fly can gather in numbers so great they’ll drive you insane and with a few hundred clinging to your back, they’ll follow you into the sanctity or your tent, camper trailer or caravan.

Continually pumping aerosol sprays into the atmosphere doesn’t auger well for a comfortable holiday but there’s an alternative in a product called Pestrol. It’s a pressure pack, pyrethrum-based spray operating from a battery driven dispenser that you can mount on a wall or stand on a bench.

You can adjust its operation depending on the time of day or night, and to suit the situation you find yourself in. I’ve been running a Pestrol in my caravan, since I hit the road permanently three years ago and haven’t needed to purchase aerosol sprays for airborne insects since. All I need to buy is surface spray, which is mostly employed out under the awning to tackle migrating ants. I’ve found Pestrol really makes for comfortable living indoors.

When all else fails...

Diseases carried by mosquitoes should never be taken lightly, and in an emergency you need to do whatever you can to keep the pests at bay.

I’ve broken down in the bush and used kerosene wiped on the skin, and I can assure you that nothing came near that.

You could also use diesel but don’t light a fire or a cigarette!

I know of one hunting guide in Arnhem Land that became lost with his client as darkness fell. Rather than walk around in circles in the dark looking for his 4WD, they wrapped themselves up in a freshly removed buffalo skin to keep the bities at bay.

That worked just fine but you should have seen what they looked like when they finally rolled back into camp the next morning. It looked like they'd been rolling around on the kill floor of a slaughter house!

Bug off!

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