As isolated cultures and forgotten societies are infiltrated by thrill seekers wielding the tools of social media, finding truely original and enriching adventures seems harder and harder.

In thinking about trade routes in the parallel universe of Indian Ocean sail cargo it is important to understand that in spite of the desert, the heat, humidity and the vast areas, there was an active trade of considerable size and variety centuries before the discovery of oil or the building of the Suez Canal.

It is deceptively easy to get bogged down in the dominant paradigm of Traditional Sail that is centered on the archaeology and history of square rigged ships and fore and aft rigged work boats. This is, admittedly, a broad generalisation, but it is also one that I would defend.

Traditional wooden boatbuilding and seafaring are integral to the long history of an archipelago of islands that became Indonesia. This is Australia’s northern neighbour that we sadly ignore except when making a holiday dash to Denpasar.