Hi
I live in Melbourne and am planning a trip to East Timor in June or July 2009. I will fly from Darwin to Dilli. Hire a Honda or Suzuki 125cc in Dilli. It looks like the hire cost is about $300 US a month.

The plan is to do a loop down the coast to Manatuto, Bacau, Tutuala then along the south coast and then through the mountains back to Dilli via Ainaro and Aileu.

From the recent photos I have, maps and talking to people who have been there recently the roads seem OK but it will be a slow trip

I am looking at spending about 3 weeks to do this trip.

If you are interested in coming along or have travelled in East Timor and can make some suggestions it would be great to hear from you

Dave

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Hi Dave,

I was in Timor Leste (TL) in June 2007 and am going back in March for a couple of weeks. I rented a 200cc Honda trail bike and was perfect for for traveling (apart from no kick start and very sore butt!). I had a few problems but nothing the roadside mechaincs couldnt fix. The northern coast road in sealed through to Lautem and Los Palos. The road south of Los Palos (indicated wrong on your map - it goes south west) in very rough and slow going. The bridges on the south side are pretty much destroyed at every river crossing. Depening on the river levels you can ride across or hire some locals to carry you bike. I had to do this at 2 rivers. There are several roads tha cross the mountains that are in reasonable condition and offer some great vistas. Accomodation is availble in most large towns but I took a bivvy bag with me. Bring you own gear if you can - at least a helment, jacket and gloves. The local version are crap.

Book your flights early - both to Darwin and on to Dili - they can be exorbinant. The cheapest place to stay in the backpackers on the main road to the airport. It is run by Rita and she can organise bike rental etc. Usually a good place to meet other travellers as well.

I have loaded some photos here (Sandbox @ MainlandSpatial) Scroll or zoom out to see them all. Let me know if you need any more info (maps, GPS tracks etc).

Cheers

Flashkiwi

hey there. i am planning to fly from singapore to manado sometime in may 09. plan to go to timor to renew the visa to continue travel in indonesia. it is possible we can hook up. biking would be nice but i am more interested in snorkelling and diving. 3-4 weeks sounds like enough time. i think as a us citizen i can only get a 30 day visa anyway.
i am currently on a bullet in norhteast india.
keep in touch.

Hi

Thanks for the info about your trip to Timor. The maps and photos were a lot of help as was the travel advice.
I am still planning to go this year but it might not be until August

How was the trip in March? Do you have any other tips eg accommodation options?

Regards

Dave