BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi everyone. I'm in the early planning stages of a big rtw trip. I'm going to be flying to NZ for a working holiday, then hopping over to Oz for a bit to visit friends.

From that point on I was thinking it would be cool to make my way to Europe entirely without flying.

Thus, I'm trying to find out if it's possible to travel from Australia (Darwin maybe?) to Bali (or anywhere in Indonesia) by sea. Are there passenger services? Is there any chance of hitching a ride on a private vessel?

Given the limited results I've found so far, I suspect it's not going to be easy.

Thanks for any and all responses.

It's a question that has been asked regularly in that refugee place Oswiu, and

1. Certainly no regular ferry services or passenger services between Australia and Indonesia.

2. There's a certain ammount of freight between Indonesia and Australia, ie teak furniture but where those ships start from is amybody's guess as certainly not too much in Oz that goes to Indonesia.
I'd suggest you go about googling Port Of Darwin, Exporters etc. to see if you can pick up some links to make enquiries, perhaps finding some traffic that goes to East Timor.

3. The other means - private vessels is going to be just as hit or miss, tho there is a Bali to Darwin annual yacht race I belive, and I imagine most yachts could possibly be from Australia in the first place and it will be some time I expect between June to September, the latter ringing a feint bell, and thus with some googling you might find a link to enquire about crewing on way over.

The only other route that may even be more reliable once you check out a few aspects is to go up to Cape York, across to Thursday Island and work from there as the locals island hop across to PNG, and if legal re departing/entry then I imagine locals would be interested in making something out of it.
I'm not sure on the ability of getting from PNG to Irian Jaya (the Indo half), whether there are ferries or not and do bear in mind that there's currently some unrest there, possibly another East Timor in the making.

I know that there is a cruise ship that goes from perth to singapore. and people fly back. mabey you could skip the last part. wont be that cheap tho but it would proberbly be fun.