Australia - Darwin

I have arrived in Australia.  This will mark my sixth and final continent of the trip.  Western supermarkets, police that police traffic, people who don't jay-walk, and no traffic or scooters, I have definitely left Asia behind me.  The good news is that the motorcycle has also arrived (actually a couple of hours before I did), the bad news is the motorcycle was put into quarantine for seven days, a small fact that the shipper failed to inform me would happen.  As such, I have been sitting in this small town for almost a week now waiting for the container containing my bike to be released from customs jail and moved to the shippers yard.  Once released, I will take her to BMW and have the bike checked out before I head into the outback.  

Ant Hill

My first trek through the outback with be on The Gibb River Road, an unimproved road with multiple unimproved off-shoots leading to magnificent gorges.  I guess this is the true bush.  During my past few days of research, I have come to the conclusion that the biggest issue in this part of Australia will be fuel, or more importantly, a lack thereof.  There are stretches of off-road that will go on for over 400 km with no unleaded fuel to be had (oddly enough, diesel is more readily available), go into the gorges, and that distance can quickly grow.  So, I had to purchase a real certified Jerrycan - although acceptable in countries that end in "stan," used water bottles apparently are not permitted to haul fuel here in Australia - to extend my range by an additional 150 km.  Even more surprisingly. there is not allot of information about fuel, food, water or even roads on Google, Google Maps, iOverlander or Maps.Me, so after almost 70,000 km, I had to break down and purchase a paper map (yes, until now I have been using a cheap Chinese smart phone and free apps to navigate).  Fortunately, the map is very well put together and has tons of information about services offered along the trails.  Should be a good trip.  

Leg Distance: 0 mi (0 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 42,801 mi (69,034 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Timor-Leste

Shipping a Motorcycle From Dili, Timor-Leste to Darwin, Australia

Shipping the bike from South East Asia to Australia is pretty simple and straightforward if you know the steps and tricks.  None of these steps are difficult, just exercise some common sense, vigilance, and oversight, and you will get an adequate and less expensive result.  NOTE:  All prices discussed in this post are US dollars, which is the official currency of Timor-Leste and me. 

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Pic: Seems obvious how BMW Determines the maximum length and height of their motorcycles.  Relax the suspension and take the bike from the center stand, and two bike crates will fit perfectly, one on top of the other.  

First, there is only one shipper, ANL, so you are at their mercy.  Additionally, there is one consolidator (they operate under three names, Bollore/SDV/FEdEx), so you are at their mercy too.  You might say that you are at the mercy of an organization that has a monopoly that is at the mercy of another organization that has a monopoly.  Soooo, as far as negotiations go, you are not exactly in a power position.  That being said, there are ways to shave down the price which I will got through in a bit.

Shipping Methods 

There are three options to ship the motorcycle:

• Consolidated (in a container with other materials)
• Dedicated container
• On a pallet  

The least expensive, and slowest method, is consolidated.  This is slowest method as the shipper has to find other shipments to fill the container, and cheapest because the costs are spread over multiple shippers.  With regards to shipping time, If you are first one in, then you have to wait a while for other shipments to show up.  On the other hand, if you are last one in, you have the luck of the shipment being relatively fast.  During my shipping research,  I talked with guys who took between 10 days and two months to get their bikes shipped. As far as my bike goes, unluckily, I was first one in, luckily another sender showed up and filled the remainder of the container later that week. 

The fastest, and most expensive option, is a dedicated container or strapped to a pallet.  I personally do not mind my bike being strapped to a pallet when on a plane, but not real confident about that method on a giant cargo ship with yard arms swing around, so I did not inquire about pricing or schedules for this option.   The dedicated container is a good idea if money is not an issue or you are riding with a group that can share costs.  The math actually works out that with three bikes, it will be cheaper (and easier) to get your own container.  .

Pricing

The price for a BMW R1200GS (504 lbs), two full 48L boxes, helmet, tank bag, and a camping roll in the consolidated container was $640, whereas the dedicated container would have been $1800.  I of course being a cheap person went with consolidation.  Do to the luck of my container being filled quickly, the shipping time was the same regardless of the method used.  

Some Tricks

Now for the tricks of the trade, the original price I was quoted was $917, $277 higher than what I actually paid.  This is how I shaved the price.  The shipping fee is calculated by measurement (i.e. length, width, and height), not weight, which surprised me a bit; I thought it would be a factor of both.  When Bollore first measured the bike, I was not there, and they calculated the volume to be 2.36 cubic meters.  I insisted they re-measure the bike in front of me (be persistent as they will tell you a centimeter here or there does not matter, it clearly does) and I found out that their measurements included the windscreen and mirrors in the height, and the two boxes (aka panniers) in the width.  Reminding them that those items are removable (which of course they knew as they ship bikes all the time) and they can stowed up next to the front and back wheel of the wheel and on the seat. I was able to reduce the cubic meter calculation to 2.04, which brought the price down to $715.  After further inquiry, I found that they were charging $75 to strap the bike in the container, a service that I am allowed to provide, and did, bringing the final price down to $640.  One of the adventure riders I ran into in Timor-Leste shipped a Tenere 660 (a smaller bike) the same way, his bill was $800, so it pays to be vigilant during this step.  

Contact Information for Bollore: antonio.magno@bollore.com

Indonesia - The Adventure Islands

I have now entered into the southern islands, or what I like to refer to them as, "the adventure islands" of Indonesia.  This is area a sportsman's paradise, world class surfing, scuba diving, hiking, fishing, and of course, great motorcycle riding.  Indonesia is an island chain, so it takes a series of roads (dirt, paved, and under constriction) and ferries to make progress.  The ground based route is a sure joy to behold (with the exception of an unmarked construction site, a pothole big enough to swallow up a small child, or an un-expectant landslide blocking the path or requiring some very swift throttle action.  Its a great place to visit and very inexpensive.  I am stunned more people have not taken advantage of all this area has to offer.  

The roads in this part of Indonesia are in much better shape, and the traffic is almost non-existent.  Each island, surprisingly, has a flavor of its own. The practiced religion (Muslim Hinduism, Buddhism or Christian) shapes the people and the amount of fertile soil shapes the land. It feels a bit like changing countries when changing islands.  Religion, while varying, is deep rooted here.  When a local asks where your headed, and you tell them, the response is always, "they are  (insert religion) there," though never with a sense of negativity.  

What to say about the ferries, well, to put it bluntly, the ferries are kinda scary. They look like prison barges with overflowing toilets.  Some of the ferry rides are quite short, just an hour or so, and some are intolerably long, about 18 hours.  Number one rule is to poop before you get on the boat. Unfortunately the anxiety about the having nowhere to poop on the boat makes it difficult to poop before you get on the boat.  The 18 hour ferry (Flores to Timor) was a challenge, both in terms of intestinal control and finding a place to sleep.  For the later, I set my tent up in the empty space of the vehicle deck and camped out.  The locals thought I was crazy, but the tent served as a good way to keep my stuff together.  For the former, well, I just clamped down for dear life till I arrived on shore.  

Well I have made it to the Indonesia/Timor-Leste Border.  I really enjoyed the country and its people...especially its people.  They were friendly, helpful and a pleasure to be around.  The only beef I had with Indonesia is that it was hard finding beef...or chicken...or anything that wasn't rice, rice and noodles, or rice noodles....with a fried egg on top.  The food, when you can find some, is all fried carbs, which will leave one sluggish after a while.  Restaurants, outside of the few tourist areas (just about 50 miles of the over 3,000 miles I rode through Indonesia), are few and far between. The reasoning is that Indonesians are very family oriented and eat at home as a family unit, thus no real need for restaurants.  As a result, I would go for day or two without meals, living on snickers bars and coke zero that I procured at the local candy mart.  All in all, it is a small price to pay for sure for traveling through this paradise.  I highly recommend you visit, just bring food, and you can leave the Snicker Bars at home.    

Leg Distance: 1,248 mi (2,013 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 42,801 mi (69,034 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Timor-Leste