Yeh, if you can find a group and wait for them, that would be best of all, even if it means a couple weeks waiting.

There was a group only 2 weeks behind me, but circumstances meant I couldn't wait. They did get it quite a bit cheaper than me per person.

The agents I spoke to in Dili were all expensive, but without exception very nice people, understanding and flexible. They're not assholes gauging travellers so they'll help with organising the packing and arrangements.

uk to aus
 

Good evening Doomi
I read your post with interest.
I am going from the UK to Australia leaving in May 2020.
I would love to go all the way to Timor leste but it seems so much hard work trying to negate my way through the paperwork and bureaucracy along the way.
I was just going to arrange to have the bike transported from Bangkok and jump on a plane as this could be organised by a transport agent in the UK.

You have given really good details on what seems to me to be the most difficult part ( shipping the bike to Darwin )

Could you give me some idea of how you got to Timor Leste. I would have to arrange to get through to Singapore which appears to be difficult.
do you know anyone who might be able to assist me with my journey from Bangkok to Timor Leste.
I would really appreciate your advice
Thank you
John ( budgie ) Palmer

No need to be going through Singapore! You're right, that does seem like a nightmare. I shipped from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, then rode across Borneo and got a ship to Surabaya. Then rode along the islands taking boats at each.

All those ships were super easy to organise, all of them were literally just ride up on the day and buy a ticket. They're full of locals and run regularly. The further East I got the less they ran, but still easy. Except the Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, that's a bit more involved but it's just a RoRo ferry so it needs booking a couple of days in advance.

Between Bangkok and Timor I had zero paperwork issues, all the borders were really easy and shipping simple (especially because they're all domestic routes).

The paperwork and difficulty was all getting from Timor to basically anywhere else.