Iconic, unique, but oh so annoying
The Australian bush fly is a unique Australian icon. It's probably also the most maddening. Musca vetustissima has annoyed the hell out of everyone since the arrival of the First Fleet, and the Aboriginals for thousands of years before that. That's why the Great Aussie Salute is all about bush flies - not blowies or mozzies.
Bred in dung deposited by some 20 million Aussie cows at a rate of more than a dozen juicy pads per day, they virtually blanket this vast continent every summer in search of food. And, as it turns out, their favourite dish is right in your face - protein-rich moisture from eyes, mouth, nose and ears.
Once their "radar" has locked on to you, there's no getting away. Unless, that is, you enter what the bush flies' instinct interprets as a no-go zone. You see, Mother Nature has programmed them to avoid going inside anything. Just as She's given their cousin, the house fly, an acute aversion in the opposite direction: House flies, as the name suggests, can't stand going outside!
That's why bush flies sit happily on fine mesh fly veils, just as they do on your back, arms and golf bag. But they steer well clear of the demarcation line drawn by the free-hanging Foxfly flynet.
Foxfly... shoo fly!
