On a recent trans-Atlantic sailing passage, I met Nono. She was returning from a concert in the US, and does not fly, so she had to sail back to Europe. Commendable.
I had mentioned my father-in-law also could not fly due to heart issues, and a few years back I had worked out two ways for him to get to Australia from Europe by land or sea–one of them without going near an airport.
The options I came up with though, were so long and arduous–and he was in his 70s–that he respectfully declined the ordeals, and waited for us to come to him.
Well anyway, now Nono wants to perform in Oz, and get there without flying, so let me show her, and you, how that could work. An age ago, I’ve done this overland jaunt from London to Hong Kong. And it is a long, long road.
The thing is though, back when I mapped this plan out for my father-in-law (before the Ukraine War and the pandemic), such a journey was possible via two main routes. I will look at those shortly. Unfortunately, Russia and covid mostly shut down those options, making a new path even harder to find. But let me run through the possibilities.
As everyone knows, the Land Downunder is far, far away from everywhere. It stands like a lonely sunbaked bastion, battered by three oceans, and over 150 degrees from Greenwich, nearly half a world away from Europe, and even further from the Americas. From Europe it is two massive eleven-hour flights, stopping once on the way (my preference being Singapore rather than the Persian Gulf) before you get into Melbourne or Sydney. And without flying, it is a very, very long journey.
The Overland Route
When I was a kid, my family did an airforce posting to Singapore. Back then, in the 1970s, some of our British RAF friends drove home to the UK after their posting. In Landrovers, of course, what else? At that time, they could pass through Burma, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, then into Turkey.
When, with my mate George, we drove through in the other direction in the 1990s in our old Ford Transit campervan, determined to get as far as possible to Oz without flying, Afghanistan was definitely off limits. We transited through Iran and Pakistan, and then over the mountains and into China near delightful Kashgar.
Driving in China for foreigners then was absolutely verboten, but when we arrived at the border post, Pira-Li in Xinjiang, it was so small and they had no experience with what to do about two mad Australians driving a battered Dutch vehicle heading for Hong Kong, and no-one spoke English. They put a cop in our van and sent us to the next town.
George and I already knew it was the end of the road for our valiant campervan (which had cost us a thousand pounds in London and had already been around the block a few times), and so we donated it to the People’s Republic and got on a bus for Beijing, 3000 km away. Much to the shock of the border guards. So, accordingly, I know the Overland Route.
In 2025, the Overland options are different again. Transiting through Iran and Pakistan are unwise today, and Russia not overly keen on free-wheeling motorists, so the self-driving Overland Route may be dead. Not fully Dodo-dead, as you can apparently drive your car in Russia if you like the idea of that. So, lets get stuck into the options.
Central Asia
Australia is generally southeast from Europe. About 12,000 km over land and sea. In a straight line. And keep in mind that is just to northern tropical Australia; one of the world’s last wild frontiers and very remote from the main cities far to the south, another 3000 km away. Darwin to Sydney is the same as Latvia to Lisbon.
Let’s say you start from Istanbul, astride the Bosporus that separates Asia from Europe and feel like driving yourself or taking local buses. The problem is after proceeding for 1500 km to the other side of Turkey–and passing through some amazing scenery, like Mt Nemrut and Mt Ararat, and restive Kurdistan–you arrive at the Iranian border. Not advisable to proceed these days.
Back in the nineties when George and I did it, we had to take a policeman in the van with us all the way from the Turkish border to Pakistan, whether for our safety or Iran’s, we were never really sure. We only had a visa for five days. And it was over 2500 km on terrible roads with terrible traffic and terrible drivers. Hard work.
If Iran is not your cup of tea, you could go north into the Caucasus. Again, stunning scenery, but you would pass through a recent war zone where Azerbaijan and Armenia went head-to-head for the latest episode in centuries of confrontation, or up into Georgia, which was invaded by Russia a few years back, and is sadly not at present a beacon of political stability.
Assuming these countries let you in and you then got through them, surviving their vertiginous mountain roads and unstructured drivers, you have the choice of going on north or east. North would be Russia, the problems of which we will cover presently, but suffice to say, there are lots of oil rigs and refineries in this stretch of the country, and a lot of high explosive Ukrainian drones zipping around. Better wear a hard hat if you go north.
Perhaps east is better. All you have to do is ferry across the Caspian Sea from Baku. You can pick to arrive in Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan if they will let you in. Turkmenistan, though ruggedly beautiful is reputed to make North Korea look very liberal. If you are still determined to go this route, its 2000 odd km of barren desert until you arrive at the Pamirs–some of the most impressive mountains on the planet, but often afflicted by Islamic insurgencies. And from there cross into either Kirgizstan or Tajikistan if you don’t feel like a wander through the minefields and sharia of Afghanistan.
If you drove and your vehicle is still operational by this stage–and your car’s Carnet de Passage still current (as Australians, George and I had never heard of this document and it was a real nightmare not to have one), after some more mountain roads and lots of overtaking around blind alpine corners, you arrive at the border with China.
More specifically, the unsettled province of Xinjiang, where the Han Chinese gradually grind down the spirited local Uyghurs. Not sure if getting into China over these borders is even possible; will depend on your passport. Be sure to check it out with some of your own diplomats (who will probably look rather pale when you ask).
But for me nowadays it is off limits. China is one of those countries, like Russia and Iran, that is not shy about detaining nationals of a country they have some other issues with and using them as negotiating leverage. So better be careful. I lived in Hong Kong for four years and travelled often on the mainland, but I would never enter the country again, because the risk is just too high of becoming a very unfortunate pawn in a bigger game. But each to their own.
Middle East
If the above traverse is not to your taste, you can always turn right in eastern Turkey, and roll very carefully down through Iraq–waving politely to resurgent ISIS supporters–or through the lawlessness of post-coup Syria. Either of which will probably void your travel insurance. (Let’s just assume that you would not be silly enough to head down through Lebanon and the Gaza Strip to Egypt, but if you do, be sure to wear a Free Palestine t-shirt.)
The problem would then arise–assuming you were avoiding Iran–that you would need to somehow traverse Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (ditching your rum before the border) and make your way across another 2000 km of horribly hot desert to either Dubai or Oman. Best to steer clear of Yemen. From the seaside at Oman’s capital, Muscat, you are now not quite half way to Australia. About 8000 km to go.
Perhaps then a sea voyage is possible for that last stretch? Let’s look at that in a minute.
Africa
Of course, if you were put off by Russia and the Middle East, you could always try the Nile. It will be impossible to get to Egypt without flying, as the ferries that used to run from Italy have been cancelled. Anything else in North Africa is really not in the direction you want to be going. To get to Oz from Europe, you need a lot of south and a very lot of east. And Libya and Algeria are all pretty well off- limits anyway, especially considering what is south of them.
It is about a thousand km up the legendary Nile (camel-ing around a couple of waterfalls) to Khartoum where it branches in to two rivers, giving you two fun options. The civil war in South Sudan, or the impending Egypt-Sudan versus Ethiopia conflict over the new Nile dam. And be careful in Khartoum itself as there is a civil war raging with millions displaced.
Australia is actually on the Indian Ocean–in fact the great lump of red earth that I call my homeland divides the Indian Ocean from the Pacific–so forgetting about boats for a moment, if you make it to the east coast of Africa, then you can almost see the west coast of Australia. Again, 8000 km away. Probably avoid the Somali coast, but Kenya should be nice, or Tanzania, the latter about 5000 km in a straight line from the mouth of the Nile. Don’t forget your mozzie net. And Aeroguard. Oh, and there is also the Mpox outbreak in this part of Africa, so no eating bush meat. To be honest, I would avoid Africa.
Russia
Now we all know the problems with Russia at present. Travel there–depending on your passport, but for example for Europeans it’s very naughty–is unadvisable for a number of obvious reasons, among them global sanctions, likelihood of arbitrary arrest for suspected espionage, coups, underpaid police, warlords, Ukrainian missiles etc, etc.
But, in Russia is the Trans-Siberian Railway, and as I tried to sell it to my father-in-law, it really gets you a long way east. About 6000 km east. Okay, you arrive at Vladivostok still 6000 km north of Darwin, but you can connect with trains there that should eventually get you to Singapore.
It is a very long trip, just the Russia leg takes you 16 days–which is a bloody long time to be on a train–with various classes available but not many trees to see. And it seems to be rolling again in 2025.
Now, some people would say you shouldn’t patronise anything Russian these days, but if like Nono, flying and emitting gallons of carbon is perhaps even more obtuse than paying a lot of roubles to Vladimir’s railways, it is just maybe one option. Even getting to Moscow these days is tricky, though there are direct flights from Belgrade and Istanbul. But, of course, Nono does not fly, so will need to take buses along the Turkey–Georgia–Moscow route to get to the station.
China
As outlined above, there is the faint possibility (depending on your passport and predilection to danger) of either driving your own car or taking local buses all the way from Turkey, through the Caucasus, a ferry across the Caspian and onwards until you make China. But onward from there to Australia raises some other issues that we can look into now.
Let us assume you made it to Beijing, by car, bus and/or train (commendations). Your goal now is Timor, not even a thousand km from Darwin, and excluding New Guinea (which we will discuss shortly) Australia’s closest neighbour. Beijing to Timor is do-able; five thousand km as the crow flies, or about eight thousand overland and island hopping.
India
Ok, just to regress for a moment to cover India. There is a very tiny window of opportunity to cross India instead of China, but when overlanding from Europe, you have to pick one or the other. Let me explain why India won’t really work.
Because we said Iran and Afghanistan were off limits, just getting into India from the west without flying is very problematic. Getting out into Burma is also tricky.
We all know Pakistan and India are not the best of friends, but there are border crossings between the two, sometimes open, and again depending on your passport, it may be feasible. But to get to India without going into China, first you have to get to Pakistan.
Because of the Wakhan Corridor of Great Game fame, there is no feasible route between Tajikistan and Pakistan without crossing China or a spur of Afghanistan, which we all agreed would be foolish. But there is a section of mountainous terrain all over 3000 metres high south of Tajikistan where ownership is disputed three ways between India, China and Pakistan. By this route, if you could somehow walk through the snow and minefields, you may be able to cross into northern Pakistan without entering China. Good luck with that, and winter would probably be best when the snow is several dozen metres deep because it keeps the warring soldiers apart.
George and I came over the nearby 4900 metre Khunjerab Pass–the world’s highest highway–to cross from northern Pakistan into China. But that doesn’t help if you wanted to avoid China.
So, say you made it trudging over the mountains without getting arrested (or shot) where the borders of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, India, China and Pakistan all meet, then headed south, from Pakistan crossing into India, took a train across India–around 2000 km–you would arrive in Assam (after skirting Bangladesh to the north) where there is a long-running insurgency against Indian rule. Not a place to dawdle, even if they let you in.
But just say they did, your next problem is Burma, or Myanmar as they call it now. Another strife ridden war zone of rebels, militias, unpaid soldiers, Chinese smugglers, opium traffickers with lots of jungle to cross as well as some of the widest rivers on the planet. Burmese are unlikely to be issuing tourist visas, and surely not to cross from Assam.
If you did make it through all that, should be an easy swim across the border into Thailand, and from there its comparatively very civilised travelling all the way down to Timor. But really Nono, India is a no-no.
Southeast Asia
I think we have shown that getting into then out of India is a fairly high-risk venture with only minimal chances of success. Probably paddleboarding from Muscat to Perth would be safer. So, let’s go back to Beijing, if you were gutsy enough to get there from either Russia or Central Asia.
From the Chinese capital, a string of rail journeys are possible all the way to Singapore, by way of Hanoi, Laos, Bangkok and Malaysia. Much more comfortable than the buses from the Caucasus. And all the countries along the way are well worth a visit and have great food.
In Singapore, jump on a ferry to Batam island, Indonesia, less than an hour from the island state. Once in Indonesia you can take advantage of the country’s inter-island shipping service, Pelni. While ticketing and route mapping can be challenging to work out, Pelni go everywhere in Indonesia, and there are various levels of accommodation to check out.
It will be likely to take at least a couple of weeks to make your way down to Kupang on Timor or Dili, in East Timor. As an example, from the capital, Jakarta to Kupang takes five days without changing ships and economy class (which is pretty basic, as in sleeping on the deck) costs just € 35 one way.
Now you find yourself in Timor, on the doorstop of Australia. But sadly, it’s a dead end. There is really no way to make it to Darwin without flying. Unless you swim. Flights leave from Dili in East Timor a few times per week, and its not even two hours away. Costs a couple of hundred bucks one way.
New Guinea
There is a closer neighbour to Oz than Timor; Papua New Guinea. If you were still feeling adventurous after your long jaunt from Istanbul, you could take Pelni ships to Jayapura or Merauke in Irian Jaya (the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea) and from there cross somehow in to Papua New Guinea, hike across some jungles, mountains and rivers, and eventually arrive just 150 km north of Cape York, Australia’s northern-most point.
Lots of islanders travel by boat to visit relatives in Torres Strait, and its certainly not beyond the realms of fantasy to think that you could pay someone to take you across to Thursday Island, which is sort of the capital of Cape York.
Unfortunately Border Force in Australia have a long list of rules about this, and Torres Strait locals would not be interested in doing all that paperwork. This is a people-smuggling route and so its heavily policed. Trying to jump off your boat without first clearing customs and immigration would also be fairly risky, and if you got caught on the beach in Oz, you would be straight in the slammer, and probably deported immediately. Back to Port Moresby. That’s if the crocodiles or sharks didn’t get you before the cops.
In any case, you would not have an entry stamp in your passport, which would make it very challenging to get out of the country again.
Though it’s only a short hop away across the beautiful but deadly Torres Strait, it is probably only for adrenaline junkies that like crocs or prison food. In any case, New Guinea is a very big island to traverse, adventurers were eaten there by cannibals as late as 1961, and the tribal violence in the highlands and lawlessness in the capital, Port Moresby, is infamous. Timor is much better.
The Sea Routes
As a great big island, you are going to get your feet wet at least on the end of your non-flying odyssey Downunder.
The options are all with their challenges, and sea-sickness is the least of them. You can (i) jump on a cargo ship (ii) hitch a ride on someone else’s yacht (iii) buy your own boat and sail it there from wherever you like (iv) book a cabin on a cruise liner (v) take passage on some rare tall ship or sail racer that happens to be circumnavigating.
Let’s take them apart. First, cargo ships. This was the second route for my father-in-law, and from memory he could have jumped on a container ship in Rotterdam sailed through Suez Canal (no longer possible, thanks to Houtis in the Red Sea) and arrived in Perth after about 40 days. A four day Indian Pacific train ride then would get him to Sydney.
Until covid this was quite easy. Lots of companies offered spare cabins on freighters to adventurous travellers who didn’t mind missing the luxuries of cruise liners. It wasn’t cheap–around €200/ day per person–but if you had time to wait for the scheduled voyage, you could go pretty well anywhere. Trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, Cape Town, Tahiti, the Caribbean, the Med…
But the pandemic brought it all to a screaming halt. Insurance, medical issues, visas, bio-security, immigration, liability and the problems of dealing with passengers on ships not designed or manned for this pulled down the curtains on what was an incredibly promising way to get around. Very sad.
There are only a couple of routes still offered, and they do not include a stop at Australia. AFAIK. These things may change, but I have been chasing shipping companies for a couple of years now since covid, and if you even get a response, it is No No No.
Yachts
Probably the coolest way to cross the moat to Australia is to get a ride (or here) on a yacht. This is a lot easier said than done, but it is possible. Phuket and Bali are probably the best Southeast Asian locations to pick up a ride on a cruising yacht heading Downunder, but you can also cast a wider eye and cut out a lot of overland bus and train travel. Muscat, Mombasa, Cape Town, Dubai and Portsmouth are also possibles.
And, of course, if you are not overlanding across the oikumene, you can approach Oz from the east. You can come over via the Americas. Trans-Atlantic sail, trans-American train, or road trip, and trans-Pacific sail. Simple.
In fact, the very best long-distance sailing route on the planet is to take the easterly Levanter on a yacht from Greece or Turkey, traverse the Med, catch the northeast trade winds across the Atlantic, transit Panama Canal, cross the doldrums and then grab the trades again which will take you all the way across the mighty Pacific to Brisbane.
Nearly 30,000 km, with the wind blowing from behind. That is Champagne Sailing. At eight knots it will take three months, non-stop from Rhodes or Istanbul.
If you had to pick one way to get from Europe to Oz, that is the one to take. But you need to like boats and lonely ocean crossings, and you need to find a boat willing to take you. It may require a long time to arrange a ride, or you might get lucky. Best if you have some sailing skills, and offering to pay for your berth will jump you a lot up any queue. Of course, there is a lot of paperwork. But most sane people will of course fly, so you should not have too much competition.
Failing hitching a ride, buy a yacht, and sail it yourself, or pay a skipper to sail it for you. One warning is do not, under any circumstances, sail west from Cape Horn towards Sydney or you will have the Roaring Forties on the nose for a horribly long time. A bus through Afghanistan wearing a miniskirt would be more fun.
And keep in mind as the old drovers say in northern Australia; Where you eat your Christmas lunch is where you stay for the next three months. This alludes to the cyclone season and gallons of rainfall which coincides with the summer downunder. Absolutely not sailing weather, and a fairly tricky time to hitch a ride on a yacht.
Cruise Liners
I’m no expert on cruise liners; the idea makes me feel a bit ill, but they do criss-cross the seas between Oz and Asia, and I would think one-way trips are plausible. Immigration and visas will of course always be a problem entering Australia, so you need to have your paperwork in order. You generally also need an onward ticket out of the place when you arrive.
Try the normal cruise companies, and maybe have a look at repositioning cruises that may have cheaper rates when the cruise ships make seasonal one way voyages. You can also come with Cunard direct from the UK (get a bank loan) which brings you to Sydney after 70 days around the Cape of Good Hope.
But I think cruise liners would pump out more emissions than an aircraft, surely?
Jump on a circumnavigator
It is quite rare to find, but occasionally one of the tall ships embarks on a circumnavigation of the globe, and you can jump aboard for certain legs. Remember, if you don’t want to fly into Australia, you probably do not want to fly out either, so keep an eye out for a return voyage.
Here are some sites to watch, here is one you just missed, and here are some Australian tall ships to check out. Failing that you could always join one of the mad round the world extreme sailing races as crew, jump overboard in the Southern Ocean as you pass Oz and swim to Tasmania. Probably safer than coming by way of New Guinea anyway.
Summary
In summary to our musician, Nono, first think if you like Russia and the Trans-Siberian. If so, and you are happy with buses and feel adventurous, start in Istanbul and proceed through Georgia up to Moscow, and climb aboard. Change trains quite often to get down to Singapore a month later, ferry to Batam, Pelni across Indonesia, and then decide if you can accept just a short flight from Timor to Darwin. Two hours. If not, hitch a ride on a yacht from Bali.
If you can’t stomach Russia, then it’s your own car, or buses across Turkey, Georgia–Azerbaijan–the Caspian Sea (ferry)–Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, or Kazakhstan–Tajikistan–China (donating your car to the People’s Republic)–Vietnam–Laos–Thailand–Malaysia–Singapore etc.
Remember Darwin is probably a long way from where your shows will be on in the big cities of the southeast in Oz. But you can take the bus there. If you are not sick of them by then. Only 4000 km and 70 hours to Sydney. Across the desert. Or the Ghan train followed by the Indian Pacific, much more civilised.
If none of that is to your liking, it’s a cruise ship or a yacht, probably from Asia. Just not around Christmas.
Let us know how you go. Your intolerance of flying is commendable. What an example you set to the rest of us! Best of Aussie luck to you!
Go Nono!