Sandflies - the new peril

Seems we'll never be safe from biting insects on this trip. After my four relatively itch-free months of gloating over the fact that northern hemisphere mosquitoes find Amy infinitely more tasty than myself (well who wouldn't?), I'm surprised and saddened to become the new dish of the day for all the carnivorous critters that buzz around these isles.
The plague of the west and south coasts of the south island here are the sandflies, who all regard my shiny bald head as a tasty meat flavour chupa-chup and every moment I am hoodless or without a hat it's DINNERTIME!. Even my trusty Cambodian insect repellent serves as a simple garnish to their ginger meal.
They have all the subtlety of a chainsaw juggling mosquito which is my one small consolation – their first mouthful is invariably their last as they feel a swift splattering retribution from the icy hand of death (in practice that's whichever of my hands is closer to the bite site).
So now it's Amy's turn to gloat as I zoom up our blog's biteometer league table, will I catch up her staggering high score before we move on to South America to face a whole new continent of antisocial insects?!