Goodbye Indonesia

Back in Surabaya we have spent the last two weeks thoroughly cleaning the van in preparation for shipping it to Australia. Australia have very strict bio-security regulations and the vehicles are thoroughly inspected by a special team looking for any insect or soil / dust contamination. Thorough cleaning involved taking everything out, including anything relatively easily unboltable like the fridge, front seats and flooring and the front bull bars. These were all thoroughly cleaned before being replaced and after having the outside of the van cleaned by a local company spent two days underneath with a pressure washer before the whole of the underside was undersealed to make it look like new.
Every item removed from the van was cleaned and then replaced. Eventually after nearly two weeks it was all back together and we carefully drove it to the shipping yard where it was loaded into a 40ft container which was then fumigated. By now it should be safely loaded onto the ship and on its way to Perth via Singapore.
We now have a couple of weeks before the van arrives in Perth so once we have collected the carnet and bill of lading we are heading to Australia to enjoy some cooler weather.

Reflections on Indonesia - a fantastically varied country both in terms of scenery and cultures. Lasting impressions are: soaring volcanoes; crashing waves on empty sandy beaches; intense agriculture, and high population density on Java and Bali, but miles of empty undeveloped places on Sumatra, Sumbawa and Flores; extraordinary wildlife on Sumatra and Java; vast cultural differences on different islands, Islam on Java, South Sumatra and Lombok, Hinduism on Bali and Christianity on Flores and North Sumatra; a huge programme of building mosques; traffic congestion; motorbikes everywhere; friendly inquisitive people; heat and humidity on low ground;
An extraordinary country where we have only really scratched the surface, there is so much more to explore.