Indonesia Trip
June-July 2025
Mission Details and FAQs.
Mission dates and options
2025 - mid year school holidays as the main focus
First Trip Window - Depart Adelaide on 29 June, Depart Jakarta on 8 July
Solo Trip Window - Depart Jakarta on 8 July, Depart Solo on 14 July
Q> What sort of travel time is involved, assuming I travel with Qantas?
A> One way is with a stopover in Sydney, which is approx 2-4hrs. Flight time between Sydney<>Jakarta is 7.5hrs. The return flight from Jakarta is an overnight flight.
The first day is long, being mostly travel from Australia. The final day tends to be travel from Indonesia in the afternoon and overnight, therefore the night can be long.
Flight Costs
Flights seem best either with Qantas or Singapore.
This does not include Jetstar to Bali, and then onto Jakarta.
Costs - recent checking shows flight costs between $1050 to $1450pp
There are many flight options. For those booking direct, you can fly Adelaide to Jakarta via Sydney with Qantas.
Other options include Malaysian Airlines from Adelaide through Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta.
And Singapore fly from Adelaide through Singapore to Jakarta.
For those considering a holiday connected with the mission trip, there are always cheap Jetstar options from Adelaide to Bali, and then local flights from Bali to Jakarta.
Transfers from the Airport to accommodation and to Bukit Karmel are handled by Bukit Karmel. The travel time is 1.5-3hrs depending on traffic. Please note that transfers will be timed with the Qantas arrival and departure times.
However there is no shortage of alternative transfer options which can be worked through depending on your travel plans.
Time zone & weather.
Travelling to Indonesia in July, the time difference is 2.5hrs. In other words, Adelaide is ahead 2.5hrs.
Weather in Jakarta is warm, tropical and humid. See current weather here via BBC. And average weather in July here.
What is needed to travel.
Things you need to be able to travel for mission:
Valid passport with at least 6 months of validity
Comprehensive travel insurance, must be arranged yourself, and will cost approximately $120.
Vaccinations as determined in consultation with your GP
As at July 2023, there are no COVID requirements.
In addition, for the mission trip, you will need:
$55-60AUD for immigration tourist VISA upon arrival
Signed Mission Trip Consent & Commitment form
Attend team meetings prior to leaving which cover cultural and language briefings, trip information, personal preparation and shared prayer
And if you are willing, 5-10kg of checkin luggage space to transport supplies from Australia to Bukit Karmel. Freight is very expensive and so every person travelling to Bukit Karmel helps to move donated and purchased items from Australia to Jakarta. Such items include stationery, materials, clothing, educational products, books etc.
Accommodation, Food & Incidental Costs ($AUD).
Hotel accommodation is hosted at Bigland Hotel in Bogor, which is owned by a member of the Bukit Karmel Governance Board.
Approximate costs for accommodation is around $70-80 per night, or $30-40 per person per night for twin share. These costs include breakfast each morning.
Allow daily costs of $10pp which we contribute for food at Bukit Karmel and transport to and from Bukit Karmel
Mission Trip Cost Summary ($AUD).
Expected costs mission approximately $2100. Personal costs start from $200 and up.
Fixed costs are Flights (~$1300), Visa ($60) and Airport Transfers ($30)
Accommodation per day is ($40-80), Bukit Karmel Transfer per day ($10)
Personal costs include travel insurance ($120), gifts ($), giving ($), spending($)
Giving here relates to being a blessing to the staff and ministry at Bukit Karmel.
Giving is to be through Mavis and staff leadership to avoid any conflict after we leave.
Exchange rate and cost of goods.
Costs for food and accommodation, most clothes and labour based services are comparatively low when compared to Australia.
However other items like electronic equipment, petrol and imported goods is parity with Australia.
The Australian dollar fetches a strong exchange.
$1AUD = 10,000 Rupiah and that provides a rough guide for exchanges.
In order words, 1,000,000 Rupiah = 100 Aussie dollars
The number of zero’s is hard for us to work through at first - but its four decimal points to the left!
See exchange rates here.
Government advisories.
Smart Traveller has advisories for Indonesia here.
DFAT advice can be found here.
Australian Embassy details can be found here.
What do I pack and bring.
Travel light but travel well. Travelling can be tricky at a local level where space is at a minimum and distances long.
Light coloured, loose-fitting clothing. Cotton clothing are easy to wash and carry.
Modest clothing is important. Sunday Services are more formal in attire.
Bathers and swim gear can be handy.
Toiletries like soap, toothpaste, deodorant, shavers, etc.
A roll of toilet paper is recommended, it can help in a variety of ways, in those tricky moments!
Journal book or app, pen etc. A portable battery pack is important for your electronics while out and about during the day.
Basic medicinals, including sunscreen, panadol, savlon, bandaids, imodium, and personal prescribed meds and hygiene products.
Insect repellent (tropical strength) is important.
Ensure you have locks for your baggage and backpacks so that your things are secure. Remember to adequately label all your supplies.
'Zip lock bags' or laundry mesh bags are very useful to compartmentalise your gear.
A bath towel and single sheet can prove handy for swimming, bathing and sleeping.
A torch can be handy but mostly your phone handset will suffice.
Gifts from Australia to share.
Leave most of your jewellery and other values home!
Mobile Phones and Data/Call Access.
Your phone will provide an alarm and torch and time!
Access to Wifi is reasonable in the hotel, but patchy elsewhere. The best way to communicate is using data.
This includes emails, web surfing and using ‘data’ to video or voice call via messenger or whatsapp or facetime etc.
Access to the local phone network can be pre-purchased from Australia in the form of a sim card or e-sim that allows access to the local Indonesian Mobile network.
International roaming on your own Australian phone plan is likely to be very expensive so be cautious and beware, but some providers like vodafone offer $5 per day to roam.
Practical Advice.
A single case with wheels is advised, with a backpack which you can use for daily movement.
Light-weight long pants and long-sleeved shirts, as well as a hat, are especially recommended, for both modesty reasons and to protect yourself from diseases you can be exposed to through insect bites.
Casual but presentable clothing should be worn for meetings/Bible studies.
Female bathing costumes need to be under T-shirts and shorts. When in public, women should avoid wearing camisoles, tank tops or halter tops that bare their shoulders. And avoid short shorts or miniskirts in general.
Be prepared to hand washing your own laundry. Take a few pegs and some coat hangers use as a clothes line.
A cross-cultural experience is about leaving our western lifestyle and entering into another world; a different world. This affects our sleeping and bathing arrangements, taste buds, and tests our attitude!
Your Backpack / Day Bag will rarely leave your side, whether you're travelling, attending meetings or on site at Bukit Karmel. You'll carry your every-day items in it including water bottle, bible and camera, so you'll need to bring something that is both appropriate and comfortable. Some backpacks have a detachable day pack which is ideal.
Money Bags and belts are a good way of stashing your cash. 'Bum bags' can be a target for fast hands wanting fast cash. These also can be bought at department stores.
Food Advice.
Drink only bottled water and beware ice unless it is from a hotel.
Be cautious of street food. Our Adelaide stomach’s are too refined to handle some of the local bugs.
Hotel and restaurants are normally your best options, but feel free to ask for advice.
Meals served at Bukit Karmel are already considerate of visitors and safe to eat.
It always pays to have something like imodium on standby…but not too much!
Indonesia has strict drug laws so bring a doctors note with any prescribed medication that is ‘complex’. And if you are in doubt, check with your GP.
Mission Activities & FAQs.
Activities in support of Mission.
If you cannot go, we understand. But we would dearly love and value your support. Psalm 46:10 says:
“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honoured by every nation. I will be honoured throughout the world.”
Whether you are going, or you a supporter of the Missions Trip, we would love you to pray. Would you consider being a prayer partner for someone who is going on the trip? Would you join in prayer than while in Indonesia, the Lord would be honoured and exalted. Prayer is essential. Prayer is the first way to be involved.
Maybe you cannot go, but maybe you want to support someone else who would like to go, but cannot afford the costs. A sponsorship sort of arrangement might be the way to show support and help someone else go.
Or rather then going, would you consider investing into the Bukit Karmel ministry and the orphanage and its activities. Maybe a contribution to the facility or some of the renovations that are taking place is a way you can support the Missions Trip.
If you are interested in supporting in prayer or financially, please speak to one of the Church Leaders.
Giving can be done through our Mission Envelopes at Church, or giving online noting your giving as either:
sponsorship for an individual to go (sponsorIndo); or
investing into the ministry according to what is most needed (investindo).
However if you can go, then we would love you to come and see.
Activities on Mission.
There are four primary activities scheduled for the mission trip:
Repairs & Build - this includes helping with minor repairs, gardening, painting, cleaning, replacing and moving. There are plenty of buildings and grounds that need TLC and that means lots of practical activity. And this also means teaching and showing the old children how to do things!
Mentor & Encourage - this includes spending time with people and hearing their story, sharing wisdom and encouragement and providing some mentoring and support in everyday living, key life decisions, spiritual and practical matters. This includes showing kindness and giving a listening ear. This includes sharing the word and reading the bible together and discussing what it means in application. It also means prayer and sharing together.
Show & Teach - This is where we impart our skills and show and teach others the gifts we have been given. It might be showing someone how to pray, how to sew, how to draw or play a game. It might be showing how to prune or garden or fold sheets. It might include how to cook and bake and prepare food. It might include various crafts and even my favourite - origami! It might include teaching the gospel or showing how to read the bible.
Play & Be - There is nothing better then playing and being with others. This includes organised activities that are fun including sporting events, group games and skits, singing or just sitting in a group playing Uno. Or just being and talking. It might mean being with the staff and shadowing and assisting them. It might mean cuddling the little kids and playing with them. Having fun is the way.
For each of those categories of activities, you might use singing, playing, sport, cooking, sewing, making, craft, drawing, acting, games, talking or any interest or skill you have. You might teach one of the young people how to repair a door handle. You might show a young person how to organise their space. You might show a young person some drills to improve their basketball. You might work with a young person on a wordfind. Baking a cake. Making Jelly. Pruning a tree. Playing spoons. Praying. Reading the Bible. Helping with homework. Being family!
There is plenty of room for ministry, prayer, sharing the word, giving a testimony and praying and believing for miracles as we take a step of faith!
Why go on a missions trip?
A missions trip has a lasting impact by helping us be more awareness of mission work, and assisting and encouraging local mission works. A missions trip provides exposure to followers of Jesus in a different culture, and yet we love and serve the same Lord. Missions remains a practiced and distinctive attribute of expression for CRC Churches. We are called to be a people who go into all the world.
One of the goals of a missions trip is to share the gospel and help others share the gospel. When we say share, we include speaking, serving, showing and being. Essential for our lifestyle, and for mission is prayer and a willingness to serve and give. Whether you have fish, or bread, or both, whatever skills or gifts you think you have, or don’t have, the Lord uses what we bring to Him to accomplish His will.
The Lord can do more with your willingness than your ability. What the Lord can accomplish with you is more than you can ever do on your own. While some people are called to be full time missionaries, we believe that if it is in your power to do so, then go and see what the Lord is doing in another place, and be a blessing. But like Abraham, we need to go by faith and that includes giving and prayer.
Giving - Giving up your time and comfort and resources. Giving your hands and voice and presence. Giving your love and encouragement.
Prayer - prayer and intercession for the mission you are about to do is essential. Going on mission means you are knowingly choosing to engage in spiritual warfare. Prayer prepares you for that. Prayer and prayer partners are an intentional decision to wear the armour of the Lord.
There are so many reasons why a Missions Trip is highly valuable:
Much of what we do often connected to ourselves. A missions trip however is different. It is using your holiday time, your rest time and your resources to go and give beyond yourself. A missions trip reminds us that we are here to serve and that the world does not revolve around us. And a missions trip gives us a taste of what it is like for a missionary who gives their life to go.
When you go on mission, your focus is predominately on others. You go to serve others but in serving others, it is amazing how much you grow. Being placed in a different community, you get to grow in your own confidence and knowledge as you share about the Lord. When we share about the Lord, we also grow in the Lord, and that opportunity is incredibly important.
Being with others means you get to see how much we have, and how little others have. A missions trip creates a moment to reevaluate your needs and reconsider what you do with your resources. And being on mission helps us to be grateful for whatever we have, whether it be little or a lot.
When you are on mission, you have the opportunity to be involved in many different areas of serving and ministry. Part of your involvement means organising, helping, supporting and leading and these things have the amazing capacity to generate personal growth.
Being on missions means all hands on deck. It means travelling and negotiating with locals, and learning local customs and ways. All hands on deck means helping and being on the team with anything that is needing to be done. The idea is that our helping hands and encouraging attitude is the provision for such needs.
Being on mission means we appreciate what being a Christian looks like for others. Following Jesus is never easy, but in some places, it is harder. Many places across the world persecute Christians while others are punished for their faith. Faith has a way of becoming even more real when it is placed under pressure.
A missions trip means you slow down a little and just be. You sit and talk more. Think more. There is more time to not do and be disconnected from social media and TV. Slowing down does not mean ineffective. Slowing down means we can take more in.
On mission, learning about a different culture means you learn about different values, and see situations from a new perspective. This relates to lifestyle, time, food and what makes people happy and what makes people sad. These experiences enrich our own thinking and lives. What you also notice is that you are less aware of your own news, and more aware of the local news. You become aware of the issues of another nation and lose track of your own news.
One of the fun aspects of a missions trip is that you connect and bond with others who you travel with. And in the process of serving together, you create many memories. You share in a deeper connection and in your faith steps. Sharing the journey with others grows your relationships and builds stronger connections.