Thought I would make comment on here as unable to Email to make comment at the end of the stoy on front page. Two years ago I struck Locusts somewhere between Jerilderie and Nerrandera I think it was. Certainly in the general area. It was around November on my way south and lasted 30 ks. When I stopped at the next town, the one with the large guitar in the information office, I washed the windscreen and cleaned up so I could carry on. Boy do they make a mess, blood and guts and fatty substance everywhere. It was actually quite frightening to drive through it for so long and had to pull over a few times to take time out. In the front story it mentions Use your windscreen wipers to clear locusts from your windscreen, and yet I read somewhere just in the last few days NOT to do that as you smear the fatty substance over your window and make it impossible to see where you are going.
I was able to keep driving with enough clearance between the little blighters to see the road. If you stop on the side of the road, DO NOT get out of your car, that would be frightening I imagine. Anyone else have similiar stories??
I grew up out Jerilderie way, Happywanderer. Can remember as a little child in the 1950's, that brown cloud on the horizon, and my mothers panic as it came closer. She raced around bringing everything inside the house, and shutting all widows and vents. They were noisy and smelt yucky, and we were terrified. When it was over there wasnt anything green left!! All the garden plants were stripped bare, no grass left, and lots of debri... dead grasshoppers and their excreta. One thing that still amazes me was that Mum had left some washing on the line, and the grasshoppers ate big holes in a green tablecloth!! I cant remember where Dad was that day, country women had it tough then, and still do.
Driving through such a plague is my worst nightmare. The advice on the second page of Cindy's story sounds sensible.... please take care folks!
We had a plague in the central west a couple of yrs ago, swarms of them, the windscreen was covered with squashed locusts. They are hard to get off. The thing to watch is they get stuck in the radiator of your vehicle and cause it to overheat. Heaps of people have shade cloth covering the front of their motors to help keep them from causing damage. They stink too when u are washing them off. Drive very carefully if you do happen to drive into a swarm of them. Take care drivers!
They ate the green tablecloth, that is hilarious Gerty Dancer. Maybe that is why they say on the front story Don't use green for the insect screen on the external radiator covering.
Sounds like when we were out west between McKinlay & Winton in August we must have seen the beginning of them - me thinks we was lucky to have missed the on-slaught!!!!
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Pejay are travelling in a 2014 Holden Colorado LTZ Twin Cab Ute + 2013 Coromal Element van
I remember in May or late April this year news had come through that there was a locust plague between Echuca and Mildura,and being totally new to this way of life spent 4 hours cable tying metres of gutter mesh to the b/bar to deter these buggers who had already eaten acres of carrots and other produce ahead of my journey,and indeed they made their presence felt..yucky,yellow,smelly things that they are,but somewhere between Echuca and Mildura someone said"why didn't you just pin some shadecloth under the bonnet and save yourself so much work"..yeh well.Maybe next time. At Mildura it took me absolutely ages to clean the c..p of the van and truck..Be prepared if likely to encounter same,but using gutter guard and 3 million zip ties is not the easy way out. Oh well David
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David (going solo) Landcruiser and Coromal Capri 600
hi, the best way to get them off is to spray them with windex and let it soak on them. have a cuppa then just wash straight off, yes this does work have been doing it for about the last 5 years. The show and shine people put me onto it. cheers kevinsterra.
not locuses but what about those big bugs that splatter across your screen when driving the nullabor, seen them in one piece at the nullabor road house, guy keeps a couple in a jar along with lots of other things, they are about 1/2 diameter cheers blaze
Welcome to the Forum kevinsterra from me too. In about 2005 I encountered a locust plague between Broome and Hedland after a really good wet season. I actually got out to see what it was flying through the air and hitting my windscreen. I had flyscreen tied between the radiator and the grill, and it's still there. I drove through them for about 10kms, and didn't dare use the wipers on them. I cleaned them off at Sandfire Roadhouse. They were actually very pretty green, orange and pink. The little brown grasshoppers are boring in comparison, but the damage is the same. Just take it easy.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
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