Australia to UK - shipping March 08
 

Hello,

In March, I will have completed my ride from the UK to Australia and will need to ship my bike back to the UK. Is anyone else shipping at this time? We may be able to share a crate and save some costs.

Otherwise, any recommendations welcome as most in the 'shipping section' are pretty old. Had a quote of £850 from James Cargo Services all in but that seems quite pricey.

Charles

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Dave Milligan

GetRouted : Bike shipping and Tour Operator

Cheers
Mick

Hi, we're planning to be in Sydney about mid-march, then arrange freighting the bike back to Europe.

Problem is, we're still in Malaysia, and plan to go to Indonesia, and island-hopping all the way to East Timor, then ship from Dili to Darwin. I dont even know at the moment, if the land border between Indonesia and East Timor is open. Today I enquired from Indonesian consulate, but they didnt know... and even when/if we get to Darwin, its still a long way from there.

If theres a problem with East Timor, then we might ship from Bali, or wherever we can find some company who can do it. Even returning back to Singapore to catch the Perkins ship could be an option.

So I really dont know about exact dates yet. But where are you planning to ship from? If its not far from Sydney, then sharing a crate etc., might sound just fine. I guess seafreight will be cheaper, but maybe wouldnt hurt to ask the airlines also. I recently shipped from India to Thailand, and the difference between air and sea wasnt actually so much (so I opted for air).

Are you already in Oz? Which route have you taken / will you be taking?

Hello, Pecha,

I am currently in Perth (see www.planitearth.co.uk - UK to Australia 2007 - Home Page) for details including the route that I took.

Shipping both from Malaysia and Singapore to Indonesia was a bit sketchy on both routes and the time that it would take to clear the bike. If you talk to BMW Auto Bavaria in KL or to Sunny Cycle (details on my website under planning and then servicing), they can help you out with contacts to help arrange it. Apparently bike clearance in Indonesia can take up to 2 weeks and then shipping from Surubaya to Darwin was impossible to research well enough. To island hop from Surubaya down to Dilli would take a further 2 weeks, so there were just too many time variables for my schedule. It could have taken 4 weeks through Indo or it could have taken 2 months...

In the end, I shipped on Perkins from Singapore to Darwin. Very easy and then took a look around Indonesia on foot whilst i was waiting for the bike to get to Darwin.

Take a look on my site also at Planning and then Bike transport for details of the shipping that I did.

Re. routes in Oz, from Darwin, you can get down the west coast to Perth in around 3 weeks incl a couple of 3 days stop offs. From Perth, I reckon 5 weeks-ish to cross Nullarbor, see Adelaide, Gt Ocean Road, Grampians, and including week in Melbourne and 10 days taking the coastal road up to Sydney. From past experience, the East coast isn't that fascinating unless you love drunk teenagers.

Also, do keep in touch re. shipping back to Europe. Which city did you have in mind? Just got a quote of GBP 519 per bike all in based upon 5 bikes in our own container. I think that basically the saving is not having to crate it up. Open to all options, though.

Charles

Our idea was/is to get to Sydney, then freight back home... but other places relatively nearby could do as well. Maybe Sydney will have the best possibilities for freighting, though.

Yes, getting to Indonesia, nevermind getting to East Timor seems to be a formidable challenge. Not sure at the moment, if we have enough time to do that, and it doesnt help that everything about the country seems so unclear, especially regarding road travel, boats (and customs!)

Maybe we will ship from Penang to Belawan, as that route should work, but its even possible we may then return to Malaysia, and ship to Australia from Singapore. I will keep you informed, how we progress! Pekka