Our shipping agent ANL (TOLL) proposes not to put Mickey in a crate but just put him in a container and secure with straps. Without a crate, a minimum of 3 m³ is charged but you avoid the crating costs. She shows us some pictures of other overlanders who shipped this way, since we are not convinced. We see several motorcycles in containers so decide it will do. The shipping agent tells us that we must provide the straps and have to drive to customs at the port of Dili to get a stamp in the Carnet. It seems a bit strange to us that we could get a stamp in our Carnet and then again just drive around in East Timor. We easily find the customs office and to our surprise, we immediately get the stamp. After that we drive to a Chinese work shop where we buy four straps.
The day we have to put Mickey in the container has arrived. Everything goes smoothly, the papers are ready and there is a container assigned to us in no time. An employee, Johnny, first washes the container and then we drive the bike in the container. After the ride from the hotel to ANL there is some dust again on the bike so we take some time to remove as much new dust as possible and we clean the tires again. We focus on the grooves because they are surely to be inspected in Australia.

The Final Cleaning of the Bike

Securing the Bike in the Container

Johnny helps us to secure Mickey in the container but we notice quickly that the straps are crap. Johnny says we can use straps from ANL, we just need to give them back in Darwin to the local ANL office. Unfortunately, these straps are in the office of the customs here at ANL but the customs officer is not present at the time. Frustrating, for just a few minutes before the office was open. We have to wait for 2.5 hours until the office opens again. We're going to eat and then return, we wait together with Johnny for the customs officer who then also is almost one hour late, thereafter we need only ten minutes to secure the bike.
In the office of the shipping agent, we get the papers and we pay the bill of 483 euros, SWALLOW.

Mickey in the Container

To be continued...

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