The most difficult leg of the journey from Australia to Europe to accomplish overland is to cross from Australia to Asia without taking a plane. During my preparation of the trip, I read so many different opinions on this that I didn’t know what to believe! Here is what I found out:

Is it possible to cross without taking a plane? The short answer is: Yes! You have two options:

1. Find a spot on a Yacht as a crew member. The only way to do this is to go to Darwin in May or July when most Yachts make the journey North. A great website to find more information is: www.sailindonesia.net. You can also leave a message on the Darwin’s Sailing Club‘s message board.
2. The other option is to book a cabin on a cargo ship. The only existing route is from Brisbane to Singapore. A couple of companies organise this like Globoship (email them they speak English), or Strand Voyages. The trip lasts approximately 10 days. It includes food and a private cabin with bathroom but is still quite expensive unfortunately.

These are the two only options that I found and were confirmed by several sources, but if you hear about other possibilities let me know! I wanted to write this blog post simply to prove that if you really want to do it without flying it is possible!