Sand Fly Invasion and Lesser Known Facts About New Zealand

This is about both the good and the bad that we have found in New Zealand...

Both David and I look like we have chicken pox.  We discovered in Okarita a little advertised fact about New Zealand.  They have sand flies... bunches of them.  When these horrid little critters bite, they leave huge, itchy welts behind that last for days.  They reside all along the west coast.  Our hands, arms, and necks are covered in their vicious bites.  Trust me, they are nasty little things.

We have fallen in love with the beaches in New Zealand.  It feels odd that they have very little wildlife/birds among their shores in comparison to home.  They are fetching, nonetheless.

Cape Foulwind, New Zealand

We are learning more and more about New Zealanders.  They call themselves Kiwis.  They pride themselves on being extremely eco-conscious.  We have seen many take ownership for their towns.  As an example, we saw folks cleaning up the beaches after the recent floods deposited trash in their area.  I think, however, if they put out more trash bins, they may be more effective in helping tourists share their environmental consciousness.  We have spent half a day looking for a spot to deposit our trash.

This country has a relationship to round-abouts and one-lane bridges that I, personally, don't understand.  We have encountered round-abouts in the middle of motorways (New Zealand for highways).  They are always a bit disconcerting to enter.  One-lane bridges around corners make no sense to me at all.

New Zealand one-lane bridge

Terminology has been fun to understand.  A few examples... a traffic yield is a give-way.  Trash is rubbish.  A cup-to-go is a take-away cup.

New Zealand is a country without mammals.  We have learned that they now have disastrous problems with invasive species, as do most countries who have imported (either with or without their knowledge) animals, particularly those to combat a problem.  As an example, around 1830, rabbits were introduced into the country.  Doing what rabbits do... multiply... they are now in competition with agriculture crops and indigenous flora.  To combat the rabbit infestation, the New Zealand government, in opposition to environmentalists, introduced stoats, a type of weasel or ferret, to control the rabbits.  The stoats, unfortunately, also eat eggs and are now decimating native bird populations.

In 1837, the bushy-tail possum was introduced to establish the fur trade.  In addition to destroying native habitat, these possums carry a strain of bovine tuberculosis, eat bird eggs, and damage flora.  Rats, of course, came by boat and are notorious for eating bird eggs.  In a land with so many flightless birds, these predators are disastrous.

Red deer were introduced but have been largely controlled and are now farmed.  Also on the top ten list of animals to eradicate are goats and wallabies.  New Zealand has declared war on all of these invasive species, with the intent to eradicate them from their islands.  They have gone so far as to develop exclosures to keep out pests and promote New Zealand wildlife, particularly its endemic bird populations found nowhere else in the world.  It is a huge task, but I pray a successful one.