Leech Party - Great North Walk - Somersby to Yarramalong

[mashapeshkom]

We attempted the next section of the GNW today.

It's been raining a lot here on the east coast, but it's been dry for about a week now. Unfortunately, the rain started again today and was pouring. Nevertheless, our group had three English hikers, so they weren't put off by the rain.

The leeches were a different story.

Only a kilometre into the hike and we all discover about 15 leeches crawling all over our boots and legs. These suckers held on tightly. Every leech we took off we saw another starting to hitch a ride. We decided to pull out of the walk there and then, and hustled back to the car. It took about 20 minutes for all of us to clear ourselves of leeches and strip off our suspect clothing. Even after the all clear, we still found two more of them later in the day. I think in total we dealt with more than 100.

Lesson learned - be careful after big rains when it's leech party time.

[crollsurf]

Yeah, Leeches are really bad ATM, other than the sandstone plateau areas, I've been staying away from the bush around Sydney.

One spot, there was about 5 leeches per square foot, all waiving around waiting for me to walk past

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[wildwanderer]

Ive found a liberal dose of picardian helps on the ankle and gaiter entry points, neck and waist. Seems to keep at least most of them at bay. It stays active even after solid walking in thick wet undergrowth. When I say it stops most.... usually one or two of the little suckers will get through..but so far this summer/autumn I havent had entire a entire platoon hitching a ride.