Health & Family QLDers I need your help with Midges

Hi guys,

So we have been thinking about moving from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast and have been visiting a few places to get a feel for what we like.
We have had an agent mention there are midges in Minyama, a Sunshine Coast suburb we were looking at. She was making the point that Minyama being on the canals, it is a tidal area and when the tide goes down, the midges come out, which was not the case with the property she was presenting at it was located on Kawana island, where the canals are behind a lock, in a non tidal system (the level of water in the canal is regulated at the lock and maintainted at a constant level).

We have tried to have a look online to see if we could find out which areas are more affected by midges and what the degree is like, but have not found anything useful. Walking around Mooloolaba or even Minyama and Kawana during the day, we did not find ourselves attacked by midges.

Firstly, if anyone is local to the Sunshine Coast and these areas in particular (even better if you have first hand experience being located directly on a canal front), your feedback on this would be immensely appreciated.

But for other QLDers out there, especially those who love near the water, what can you tell me about midges? Any areas/configuration we should avoid? How far from a tidal area/river system do midges strike?
Does what she was saying about a non tidal system sound true - unlikely to have midges?

The last thing we would want would be moving up there only to be eaten alive by midges and being forced to keep the house closed , having to dress up or always needing some kind of spray/product to keep them at bay.

 

Midges are worse around the Currimundi lake area. council have regular routine of flooding the lake to kill them off.

Most of the canals are pretty prone to midges. We do sell a finer midge mesh but it will not keep them ALL out.

PM me if you like and I can arrange to show you the different mesh types

 

They are a bugger! Are you affected worse than other people? I think it's something to do with vitamins lacking or blood type. My wife gets smashed by them while I'm not too bad.
Tidal and swapy areas (still water) and I think around sunset they are worse.
You need local advice on each area. Go to the information centres, the locals in there will know everything

 

I've been told anecdotally that properties that are lower (nearer sea level) have the midge problem and anything located on higher ground (eg. 20 metres up) isnt affected. This may or may not be true though, if you can confirm that would be great.

 

Actually, this is one thing I have not checked, what are they like around the bay areas of wyynum, manly, lota, the assoc creeks, and further down if your right near water.

 

I live in a canal estate and my house backs onto mangroves so midges are usually always constant and I'm the type the midges love. They ignore my husband but eat me alive.

They're a lot more prominent during dusk and Dawn and also dependant on the wind speed and direction. I find if I'm home during dusk I have a citronella candle burning and the ceiling fan going then it's ok.

Almost was a deal breaker when I first moved but a lot more tolerable now.

 

Yes I agree we often take our children to nearby parks on canal and afternoons and dusk are the only time we really have a problem with getting bitten. We just make sure we spray ourselves with Deet if we go in the afternoon. I also hear they like full moons.

 

Deet is pretty toxic stuff but works best
Otherwise Avon hand cream is one the fisherman use.or if your stuck diesel works too!

 

I have never experienced such unbearable pain than when my arms got covered in midge bites. It was the worst thing. I did not cope.

 

I've heard this too. Never bothered tracking it though.

Even the 80% stuff doesn't work against the midges for me... Used it a few times and noticed plastic things I was touching was starting to melt which left me wondering if that's what it's doing to plastic what is it doing to me.... Yet to find something that works for me when I'm out and about. Might have to try the hand Cream!

 

Don't know what avon has in it, but you def do not want to use diesel.......

 

Have a googly or see a Dr but I vaguely recall vitamin supplements may help boost low levels of something

 

Apart from the smell it's probably no different to other snake oil moisturisers out there!

 

Yep, when I first moved here I reacted big time. (grossness coming up...) Covered in bites and they weren't just small annoying lumps but some were huge welts and most were big blisters that sat a cm or so high on my skin filled with some kind of fluid and took ages to heal. Saw a (useless) doc who told me not to wear bright clothes because that makes me look like a flower... And that was pretty much it. FWIW I've found black and dark clothes attract them more.

Found a great cream that helped with the insane itching and did some Googling (and iirc asked in ss too) and read that garlic tablets and vitamin b tablets help. I used to have b12 injections so knew I usually lack in that vitamin.

Took a few months but built up resistance and no longer take those particular vitamins so now when I get bitten I don't even get a lump or other ongoing itchiness just a mild annoyance when they actually 'bite' (read: pee on) me.

 

@Kinnon Bell that's what my wife got, the big welts when we camped at Townsville one time,not fun! Otherwise I usually just get the red dots

But on the OP, anywhere close to water you'd want to be careful of. I don't think the sunny Coast is as bad as up north though but locals will know best

 

I am now really curious as to whether Brisbane bayside has this problem or next to the creeks in the bayside, like Tingalpa creek, Lota Creek etc..... any locals know ? apart from cost, this may be a good reason to be 50-100m away from the waterline edge ? or how far away do you need to be ?

 

Distancewise my house is 700m from the water at an altitude of 20m. No midge problem.

 

Started reading this

https://www.health.qld.gov.au/ph/documents/cdb/14804.pdf

Seems distance or elevation may not be key, but it makes sense that the closer to natural breeding grounds at ground level would be more likely to be a problem.

Maybe a night walk in summer in a area your looking to buy may be required to see how bad an area is

 

Thanks everyone for the replies and the feedback - it's greatly appreciated.
I am quite OK with them generally, but sometimes it can drive me insane - like you Bob, my wife gets smashed hard with these. But because we do not live locally, I do not know how bad it gets in which specific areas - this is something we must figure out before we can select a specific area.
I have to find some placed to get local advice, but unsure where to start looking for these places - council maybe?

@Kinnon Bell - I guess your canal was tidal?

From what I have read, the larvae of the midges are laid in the sand or mud of intertidal areas - that is the area that is underwater at high tide, and exposed at low tide. This does seem to suggest that non tidal areas would be less affected.

@dabbler - thank you for your link - this document is interesting. Check out Appendix 3: under 1.5km from breeding sites, you are basically exposed to midges. Only further from this can you reliably ensure you are relatively safe from them. I am yet to finish reading it.

I have found this map:

http://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/addfiles/documents/planning/dscpsmaps2/lap_tiles/OVM55D.pdf

This is for the area I am looking at in particular, but you can move around the sunshine coast by modifying the number in the address bar according to the tile map. So for instance, you could change it from OVM55D to OVM64D to move to another area further south towards Caloundra. I have not been able to find the parent link to the list of maps and other explanations about it - maybe my IT skills are not the best! If anyone manages to find the parent page where I suspect further explanations are provided about the map legend, that would be greatly appreciated.

The map is interesting at it shows the breeding sites for midges. In addition, the maps shows a "Freshwater Breeding Site Buffer", extending around the breeding sites. I wish I knew exactly what this means, but it would be reasonable to assume midges would be particularly active in these zones? Interestingly, it does seem the Minyama canals are not breeding ground for midges, which would suggest the area should not be massively affected by them.

However, I am a bit puzzled at the entire sunshine coast is pretty much covered in yellow which according to the map means "15km Biting Midges and Mosquitoes Affected Area". I am guessing over 15 km in distance, there is no effect from midges at all - which is backed up by your document dabbler.

I am guessing, similar maps might be available for other councils, to help people in their research.

 

Here is something specific to midges and likely problem

http://www.redland.qld.gov.au/AboutRedlands/FactSheets/Documents/Mosquitoes/FS154 Biting Midges.pdf