A couple of weeks ago over a cocktail at Honkytonks a friend pre-warned me of a plague like no other that was about to hit Canberra. Intrigued I valiantly yelled “Tell me more”! Well perhaps it wasn’t quite like that but I was certainly interested. So apparently Canberra is a victim of Bogongs. Many of them. In fact thousands of them and they are on their way.
And no not the double plugger flannelette kind of bogan. This is much creepier. It’s a moth.
Those creepy little critters that hide in the corners of room until the light goes out and you can hear them fluttering around your head. To a Canberra newbie, this is a frightening thought for a moth-phobic single girl.
Oddly enough these critters love to congregate around our Parliament House attracted to the booming lights throughout the night. They sit in every crevice and for those that work at Parliament house; they are subjected to some interesting experiences each morning as they arrive to work.
After some quick research I discovered this is a privy to living on the East coast. These night raving party moths are on holiday to escape the warmer climates of Queensland and NSW and on a trip to the caves of Snowy Mountains for the summer and start arriving as early as September.
Now, if you are lucky enough to live and work around Parliament house then I’ve heard a story or two that you can’t escape them, in your morning coffee, through the corridors, littered throughout the house and just when you think it’s safe to yawn you receive an unexpected morning snack.
Again this is something pretty unique to Canberra I have recently learned, but perhaps one that I’m happy to not get excited about.
Obviously this phenomenal act of nature cannot be stopped, any small flying animal that can fly droves over 1000km deserves it’s moment in the spotlight (pardon the pun) but in turn to help combat the problem I’ve found a couple of interesting ways to turn this somewhat negative experience into a positive.
Play Masterchef in the kitchen.
Indigenous groups used to feast on these tasty morsels in a variety of ways, either roasting them up for their crunchy nutty deliciousness, smushing them into a lovely moth cake or include them in a batch of damper. Each moth contains up to 1800 kilojoules of energy, so if it’s off pay week then Bear Grylls eat your heart out.
Feed them to your pet possums.
Everyone has a pet possum right? And pets can be expensive. So relish in the fact that you have at least two months of free pet food.
Okay, so really their uses are limited, but fear not, a big plus is the Bogong moths cannot destroy your clothes- but if in doubt best to keep all the doors and windows shut!
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