Mosquitos/ Sand Flies

Hi,
I camped and kayaked on Fraser Island last September and got absolutely annihilated by sand flies and mosquitos. I was on two courses of anitobiotics when I returned home. What are the mosquitos like on Tonga and does anyone have any natural 'ish' remedies to keep them at bay? Is there anywhere in Tonga that I should definitely avoid due to sand flies and/or mosquitos end July/August? I am going for ten days so I would prefer not to spend the entire trip wrapped in a sheet to prevent scratching. Thanks.

I don't know about the Mozzies but I did read somewhere that they are vicious in places. It is hard getting a natural remedy as everything i have tried which is natural seems to fail, like citronella based lotions. I have been given a good 'make your own' recipe and I found this works better than the bought deet ones (which by the way DEET is not good for children or long term use - so that says something for it not being very good for skin). Mix together Dettol and baby oil. Mozzies hate Dettol and the baby oil, I guess, is to help spread it. We have heaps of Mozzies where we live in summer and this works for me.

Baby oil and tea tree oil mixed together work a treat

It's "winter" in Tonga in July/august. no snow of course, but it is a bit cooler, so the mozzies are less than during their summer of Dec-Feb. I doubt it will be a real probklem for you. I was there during their summer, and even then it wasn't that bad.

Frazer Island, and mostly all the islands of Brisbanes Moreton bay are infested with swarms of mossies and sand flies.There is even an island called Mosquito island, so there is a clue!

My experience in Tongan summer was that biting insects were not an issue.

In fact whilst visiting the Captain Cook memorial on Tongatapu I commented on the lack of same-there we were high heat/humidity, no breeze lots of standing water and there were no Mozzies at all.

Ditto Vava'u out in the countryside and inshore in all weather no biters anywhere.