Overland Indo Trip

Bump, to get this on the front page.

Sounds like a good adventure. Hope this helps

Wouldn't buy a bike try to hire and be prepared to pay out if required a couple of mates have done the trip repeatedly in the 90's they used to hire a small vehicle.

Good luck you will have the best time.

Probably not helpful, especially if you plan to travel light, but I take a couple of small packs of coloured pencils with a roo or koala on them. If you see a professional beggar with a bored, exploited kid you sometimes get a smile. Good gift if you stay with a family. Small packs of bali red rice are handy too if you meet a solid local out bush, and money feels patronising.

I’ve thought about doing this trip from Java through to Bali but the thing that turned me off using a bike was thieves.
I was thinking it’s so easy to get your stuff knocked off when it’s all on the sides of your bike.
So just ended up doing the same route and surfed the spots I wanted to but got transport to the different places.
Awesome adventure though. good luck!

Assume you have a motorbike licence in OZ?

If you do then you can get an International licence which will be valid in Indo to ride a motorbike but if you dont have a motorbike licence here an international drivers licence wont be valid to ride a motorbike in Indo.

I think on a trip of that length its important as if your not legally licensed any travel insurance claims involved with a motorbike will be void, and lets be real ridding a motorbike in Indo is a high risk activity, plus you want that licence because if you get into any legal issues like running a kid over without it you will be totally screwed and you could be much easier exploited for $$$

Sound like you have the Indo experience and speak Bahasa Indonesia so thats a huge plus, makes it total realistic.

Regarding Visa's they keep changing things, last change was just the other month, i think you no longer have to go through an agent like before for a B211a Visit Visa or go to embassy or immigration and can now do things all online, i cant remember exactly and sorry cant be bothered checking it all out, but heres a good place to start. https://molina.imigrasi.go.id

Or if on Facbook do a search in "Law and regulations in Indonesia" group for up to date info.

I've extended visas in Mataram, Labuanbajo, and Kupang. Never been an issue of any kind to be honest. A trail bike makes sense but I've just done similar trips on a Supra and had no worries. I bought the bike in Jogja and just gave it to someone when I left as it was pretty trashed by the end of it. You'd definitely want to invest in the license for insurance purposes. It's pretty exxy now, but worth it.

The food in NTT can sometimes be a bit less exciting compared to other parts of the country, but some of the places I've spent time there are in my top three spots in Indonesia for non-surf times. I'd take plenty of surf stuff (leashes, fin keys, fin box threads, wax etc) but otherwise if you're happy with basic living NTT will have everything you need to have a good time. I reckon if you didn't speak Indonesian you'd die from boredom in some parts.

Have fun. Don't start a surf camp please x

I would buy one of those seat covers that keeps the seat cool. Obviously whenever you park up make sure you pay someone to watch it, take 2 different locks one for each wheel, also be careful driving through places like Dompu and have a plan if you get overwhelmed by locals, especially when you stop at lights etc.

Some indo trip veteran friends have been doing 6 month trips to indo about 95% of every year since around 99 or 2000 and some built houses in west sumbawa, they also somehow bought good motorbikes.
Maybe having a house in indo allows you to buy one in your name but personally in 2010 i wasn't allowed to,as an Aussie (i might be 1/4 Indonesian but that doesnt get me locals rights). Anyway there weren't many bikes for rent there in 2010 so a close Indonesian friend financed a motorbike and he only wanted 2 mill rupiah for 5.5 months of me using it..but i gave him more because it was too cheap a deal for a brand new bike.
Other than lucky deals like that, it is hard to find enough rental bikes in west sumbawa so bringing one from lombok is often the go.

Like a few other posters have said, some areas such as lampung are pretty sketchy leaving your bike unattended on the beach or near a reef ..In lampung i found a good rivermouth excellent long barrelling left beachy but didn't feel like surfing it alone as so many locals were homeless nearby living on the beach 100 metres away.
Same again for wai jambu, kids are likely to not only beg you for money for you to surf that joint but might steal anything in your bike or the bike itself.

As for September, September is getting towards end of season so expect some sw- west winds some days october a lot more..

Personaly i would spend more time in either java and sumatra or nusa tengarra rather than a few months in Bali. Bali is an easy place to blow out your budget and hard to get good waves without crowds.

Ofcoarse my last trip there was 2010 so some info may be dated but i still keep in touch with my ex- fiance who was from Sumbawa Besar and still keep in touch with most of my indoneian friends.Friends for life it seems.

Heres my old bike-

Don’t you just pay the way Jambu tax to not have your shit stolen, GS?

I sold my boat and bought a brand new car when I moved over to sanur ( baby on the way ) I made friends with the warung owners up and down the coast and left my keys with them . Always gave a good tip after eating and drinking after a surf . I figured nothing would get stolen with them having the keys and a win win situation for me .

Are you getting travel insurance for the whole 6 months ? Having personal liability could be well worth it , most policies are 2-5 million oz dollars. I didn’t have travel insurance when I was in sanur for 2 years straight. Before that I was on multiple trips travel insurance that was good for 3 months at a time . I had comprehensive insurance on my car that was an absolute joke . Cost $400 per year on a $25,000 car and indo comprehensive insurance is very different to ours once I read the policy in full . My car was insured for the value of the car but if I was at fault it didn’t cover the other vehicle and being a bule I was always going to be the one at fault . What really shocked me was personal injury to anyone else involved only came to 10 million rupiah, that’s right $1000 AUD I didn’t bother renewing insurance the second year .

We were going to rent a vehicle in Bali and ferry it across Nusa Tengarra. Was told the duty to take a vehicle out of Bali was exy, and that we were better off picking up a vehicle in Lombok. No hassles driving around Lombok to various breaks, put it on a ferry to Sumbawa and did West Sumbawa and Dompu area etc, no dramas either. It was handy to lock all your gear in, and pretty cheap ... back in the 90's, dry season, sleeping under stars.

lostdoggy wrote:

Don’t you just pay the way Jambu tax to not have your shit stolen, GS?

Yeah that was what the children implied but i was skeptical. Never liked leaving my bike there to surf it and one day was solid 6 foot with some 8- 10 foot clean ups that concaved out and bottomed out like a heavy teahopoo pit out of nowhere,some ending on dry reef so i was happy to just watch instead..
Also that first stage of my stay there i only had a 5' 10 banksy fish (marathon bus from jakarta wouldnt fit more than one board) the fish handled juice more than people give fishes credit for, but that day scared the shit out of me just watching it bottom out on the bombs and clean everyone up.

Later on found a spot that according to one of the only two people i told about where it is, who lives there full time as an ex-pat, says is still mostly unridden.That day as i surfed it for the first time, on the way back after a couple of hours on a scooter checked jahmboo and it was linking all the way through with a makeable barrel. no sections or closeouts or gaps or anything with a new swell just hitting it, looked as perfect as desert point..
Also an Indonesian friend doing regular trips to Jakarta and back brought my other boards with him back to lampung so i could surf days like that later on, either with a bodyboard or a mark pridmore shape we both designed as a step up for people having trouble with 18" wide semi guns and the quadfather was designed as a step up/semi gun for people who like wide fishy twin keels but find 18" wide semi guns too narrow.Which you don't want to be not used to in critical waves..The quadfather was a good solution, that first shape he made worked well.He customizes them a bit differently for all customers but mine was exactly what i needed.

Supafreak wrote:

I sold my boat and bought a brand new car when I moved over to sanur ( baby on the way ) I made friends with the warung owners up and down the coast and left my keys with them . Always gave a good tip after eating and drinking after a surf . I figured nothing would get stolen with them having the keys and a win win situation for me .

One rare area i agree with Supa, always good to do that kind of thing eat and drink at a place and they will almost always look after you like that.

You can do the same with thing with a family house near a break if no shop, go talk to them and feel the vibe if friendly, ask if you can leave your bike there with keys while surfing..

And afterwards give them a little thank you type gift be it ciggies or small food item, maybe a small cash. payment.

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SingleFin95 wrote:

Righto, cheers for the info crew.

Sounds like its important to be street smart and cautious of thieves, but I suppose that applies anywhere you go.

Travel insurance is a bit of a worry, don't have a bike licence in Oz so I won't be covered for that.

Anyone got any recommendations for travel insurance?

Will need a policy that covers me for the entire six months.

https://www.worldnomads.com/au/travel-insurance?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3a2i...

5 years or 40 of the best with a rattan. What would you choose?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-29/noosa-man-almost-possessed-during...

Sounds like the lad is in a quite bit of strife. And I think the possible flogging is only related to the drinking charge. He has some other serious charges to really worry about.

I’d take the beating. 5 years in an Indo slammer?

probably a gofundme request (referring to old mate on charges) coming real soon haha.

Hopefully reparations will be made accordingly and he won't be punished too severely for what was most likely a short episode of psychosis brought on by youth, unfamiliar surroundings, sunstroke and alcohol ingestion.

"psychosis", give it a break, he got on the piss and got fucked up, a bottle of vodka will do that to you

How about Arak.....now that shit will put hairs on ya chest.......young guy fuks up is nothing new but he fuked up in the worst place possible.......going cost the parents a bit .

seaslug wrote:

"psychosis", give it a break, he got on the piss and got fucked up, a bottle of vodka will do that to you

Me give it a break? how do you know how much he drank? World's full of know all idiots who can't wait to cast the first stone. If you nothing about transitory episodes of psychosis best just to keep your trap shut about it really. I can only imagine what sort of fool you would be in Indonesia and other places overseas.