From Kupang, West Timor, Indonesia to Darwin, Australia - July, 2006

Bob LaMacchia ships cargo on a small boat between Kupang, West Timor and Darwin, Australia on a regular basis. He runs the boat on average once a month, but basically leaves whenever he has enough cargo (primarily prawns), so its tough to get an exact shipping date in advance.

Bob is a no nonsense guy who is not into lengthy conversation, but he is professional and knows the shipping business in Indonesia and Australia very well. In the future, Bob may be doing some shipping from Bali to Darwin and vice-versa. He has plans to expand his shipping business. Bob is best contacted by phone.

We contacted Bob about a month before we planned on leaving Indonesia and were able to nail down an approximate week that he would most likely ship. He was pretty close with his prediction, but the boat was delayed three days due to rough seas. Bob's boat is small, and while he has no problem with motorcycles, a 4x4 or other 4-wheeled vehicle will be too big for his boat. The bike does NOT need to be crated.

As with any vehicle coming into Australia, the bike will have to be cleaned very well for Australian Quarantine. They will inspect your air filter, radiator, fenders, under the seat etc. for dirt. Bob's men will help you out with this in Kupang when you are ready to ship.

The voyage takes about 3 days to Darwin. You can go with the boat if you like, but Bob will charge you $300AUS to ride as a passenger. The flight from Kupang to Darwin goes twice a week on Merpati (with an Air North plane), takes about two hours and costs about $185usd. Get your plane ticket from the Merpati office in Kupang. We took the air flight, cheaper and quicker than the boat.

When you arrive in Darwin, Bob will put you in touch with his agent, who will coordinate the Quarantine and pickup of the bike. We paid the Quarantine fee to Australian customs in advance and the agent had everything in line when we got to the boat. The agent should be able to get your bike off the boat before the other cargo to save you some time.

We had no problems with Quarantine, they were friendly but thorough. The bike was very clean so any issues were minimized. Getting the carnet processed by Customs was not a problem, either.

After you pick up the bike, you will have to go to the Motor Vehicles office to get a temporary road permit for the bike and third-party insurance. The office is easy to find in Darwin. They will inspect your bike for safety (headlight, tailight, indicators, horn and that's about it) and then you will pay a fee for the inspection and the third party insurance. If you have a carnet (the easy way to get into Australia) you may have to ask a couple of people who are familiar with the carnet before you are able to get things completed. They have done carnets there before, so be patient. Everyone there was quite friendly and helpful, welcome to the laid-back town of Darwin. In addition to the Carnet, you will also need your registration papers and your driver's license. I didn't have my original registration papers, but they accepted my copy since I had the carnet.

Cost breakdown for one 1989 Honda Transalp:
Shipping $300AUD
Quarantine $90AUD
Motor Vehicles (Inspection/Insurance) $143AUD

At the time of shipment, the border with East Timor was closed so shipping from Dili with Perkins was not an option. The only other option out of Kupang is an expensive air shipment back to Bali and then another expensive air shipment onward to Darwin.