The reflections were fabulous, I couldn't get to the lake's edge fast enough with my camera. It's an area managed by DOC and has small camping spots for motrohomes and tents. Being DOC - dogs weren't allowed (*sigh*).
Perhaps some of Lake Paringa's biggest fans are sandflies! Or at least it seemed like that when I visited.
I'd only walked 100 metres from the bus when I was welcomed (or plagued) by a mass of tiny, black biting insects.
How did they even know I'd arrived? Turns out sandflies are attracted to shiny surfaces, moving objects, warmth and carbon dioxide. So, here I was, with my camera (a shiny object), beathing out carbon dioxide, while walking/moving along the lake edge. I was a prime target for these pesky critters.
As annoying as they are, I was interested enough to type 'Sandflies' into the friendly search engine 'Google'. Here's what I found out ...
- The New Zealand sandfly is actually a black fly and there are 13 species of backflies in NZ
- Only the female sandfly bites, she needs blood to lay eggs
- Apparently sandflies leave when the sun goes down, but mossies will still be buzzing about after sunset
- In NZ, sandflies are most active on warm, cloudy and windless days. They seem busiest before it rains
- When it's really cold, some places in NZ have no sandflies at all
