Two very different boats will put you on K'gari, the island long mapped as Fraser Island. This page is the western one: a 45-minute, booked crossing of the Great Sandy Strait from River Heads, south of Hervey Bay, that ties up at the entrance of Kingfisher Bay Resort. Resort guests and everyone else travel on the same deck, under noticeably different rules.
Read from SeaLink's booking timetable on 24 September 2026 for dates from late September 2026 to early January 2027. SeaLink publishes day by day and says times can change without notice SeaLink K'gari – Ferry timetable · 2026-09-24
Compared with the barge at Inskip Point, down at the southern end of the island, the Kingfisher Bay ferry is the slow, formal way in. Inskip is a ten-minute hop with no booking, straight onto the sand. River Heads is a 45-minute crossing, on a ticket you must hold before you arrive, landing at a resort's front gate on the sheltered western shore. One suits a 4WD convoy chasing low tide; the other suits a family with suitcases.
SeaLink runs the route with two vessels. The resort ferry — the one the Kingfisher Bay team schedules its porters around — makes four return trips a day. A second vessel fills the gaps with four more — SeaLink's Fraser Venture vehicle barge is the other named service on this run — so the booking system shows eight departures each way. On the busiest dates, the Christmas break among them, a third vessel is added.
What sets the route apart is the ticketing: a house guest and a day visitor can share a bench on the same crossing after being handled quite differently to get there.
Every fare here is a from price: SeaLink prices each sailing at one of several levels, so a busy departure can cost more. The walk-on fares match on SeaLink's page and the resort's.
The vehicle fare is the exception: SeaLink and the resort quote different starting prices for a standard 4WD, so we print neither — the booking screen shows the real one for your date. Both agree on the trailer add-on.
| Adult, one way, from | $ 50 |
| Adult, return, from | $ 85 |
| Child 4–17, one way, from | $ 30 |
| Child 4–17, return, from | $ 48 |
| Infant 0–3 | Free |
| Each extra passenger in the vehicle | $ 5 |
| Trailer or caravan up to 5 m with drawbar, from | $ 89.40 |
| K'gari, one month or less | $ 61.80 |
| K'gari, more than a month (up to a year) | $ 311 |
| K'gari and Cooloola combined, one month or less | $ 99.25 |
SeaLink and Kingfisher Bay Resort fares read on 24 September 2026; permit fees from Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, page updated 21 September 2026 SeaLink K'gari – ferry fares · 2026-09-24
From River Heads the boat heads north-east across the sheltered strait between the mainland and K'gari's western shore — roughly eleven kilometres in a straight line to the resort jetty. That shelter is the point. The ocean beaches, the inland lakes and the long drive up the east coast are all on the far side of the island, which is why drivers bound for them often cross in the south instead, at Inskip Point. The rest of the state's boats, from the Whitsundays up to the Torres Strait, are gathered on our Queensland ferries page.
River Heads is about twenty minutes' drive south of Hervey Bay, at the very end of River Heads Road — a road satellite navigation sometimes calls Ariadne. Drivers queue in marked lanes 1, 2 and 3 and should be ready to roll on about twenty minutes before departure. Walk-on passengers can leave a car in the open parking at the departure point.
Resort guests do things differently: they check in first at Kingfisher Bay's Mainland Reception at 54 Ariadne Street, open 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, hand their bags to porters, and ride a courtesy shuttle down to the boat ten minutes before it leaves. The same building is SeaLink's ticket office.
The ferry lands at the front of the resort, a five-minute walk or a short shuttle ride from reception, and inside the resort's dingo fence. Around the resort you will find some of the only sealed road on the whole island. Past its boundary everything is sand, national park and 4WD-only.
Only the 9:00 am, 1:00 pm and 3:45 pm out of River Heads, and the 8:00 am, 10:15 am, 2:30 pm and 5:00 pm back, come with the porter and shuttle service. Guests book passenger transfers through the resort's reservations team on 1800 372 737 and check in at Mainland Reception forty minutes before sailing.
SeaLink will not sell you a seat at the ramp. Every traveller, walk-on or vehicle, needs a ticket bought beforehand, online or at the River Heads office, and should check in at least thirty minutes before departure.
Kingfisher Bay runs a pre-booked Day Away package at certain times of year, covering a day-guest pool, a restaurant area and a ranger-led activity. Some parts of the resort are kept for staying guests only.
A two-wheel-drive car can travel on the barge and be used inside the resort grounds, but not beyond them. Outside the fence you need a proper four-wheel drive with ground clearance and low-range gearing, and the national park's number-plate cameras will check that you also hold a permit.
SeaLink points travellers to the Bureau of Meteorology's Urangan station for western-side tides and Waddy Point for the east coast. Extreme low tides can shift sailing times, so reconfirm on 1800 227 437 before you leave.
The island on the other side is Butchulla Country, and SeaLink acknowledges the Butchulla people as its Traditional Owners. Queensland Parks puts it about fifteen kilometres off the coast of Hervey Bay and Maryborough, and describes every road on it as sand: rough, only suitable for high-clearance 4WDs with low-range gearing, and not recommended for all-wheel-drive SUVs. Kingfisher Bay and K'gari Beach Resort on the east coast are the only places on the island with sealed roads, so this is the one crossing where a conventional car still has somewhere to go on arrival — as long as it goes no further.
Drive past the resort boundary and the island's rules take over. A vehicle access permit from Queensland Parks is compulsory, costs $61.80 for a permit of a month or less, and is checked by number-plate cameras rather than a ranger at a gate. If your plans are the lakes and the ocean beach rather than the resort pool, compare this crossing with the Inskip Point barge before booking: Manta Ray puts the sand drive from its Hook Point landing to Kingfisher at two and a half hours on sand.
No. Inskip Point to Hook Point is a separate ten-minute barge crossing at the southern tip of K'gari, run by Manta Ray Barges with no booking needed. The Kingfisher Bay ferry leaves River Heads near Hervey Bay, takes 45 minutes, must be pre-booked and lands on the western side.
No. SeaLink requires every traveller, on foot or in a vehicle, to hold a pre-purchased ticket before arriving at the departure point. You can book online or at the Mainland Reception office at 54 Ariadne Street, which opens from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
The designated ones: 9:00 am, 1:00 pm or 3:45 pm from River Heads, and 8:00 am, 10:15 am, 2:30 pm or 5:00 pm from the island. Only those include the porter service and the shuttle between Mainland Reception, the ferry and the resort.
From $50 one way or $85 return for an adult, and from $30 one way or $48 return for children from 4 to 17. Infants up to three travel free. Prices are quoted as minimums because each sailing is priced at its own level.
Part of it, through the Day Away package, offered at select times of the year and bookable in advance only. It includes a day-guest pool, a restaurant area and a ranger-guided activity; other areas are reserved for staying guests.
Only if you drive outside the resort grounds. A K'gari vehicle access permit from Queensland Parks costs $61.80 for a month or less, or $311 for longer, and must be bought before you go. Plates are checked by camera and fines go to the registered owner.
On a standard day the 5:15 pm from Kingfisher Bay, reaching River Heads at 6:00 pm. The resort ferry's last run is the 5:00 pm. On Christmas Day the final departure is 5:00 pm and there are only three crossings each way.
Not on any date we checked. Queensland Parks still names Wanggoolba Creek as a River Heads destination, and SeaLink's timetable shows the stop, but every sailing in its booking system from September 2026 to January 2027 runs to Kingfisher Bay.