Australian citizen applying for China visa

Hello,
I would like to apply for a chinese one while overseas and would like to know if it would be possible in Jakarta? I am an Australian citizen and every China embasy we have been to while overseas has told us that unless we are a resident of the country we are applying in it is not possible and that we have to go back to Australia to apply but as we are travelling for 1 year this is not possible. I would be gratefull for any infomation as we have spent at lot of money travelling to embassies to apply and time lost waiting in lines to just get turned away.
Thank you