Look for Wharf 6 on the Circular Quay boards, not for an F-number. The boat up the Lane Cove River is Captain Cook Cruises' CCLC: a peak-hour and school-run service that Transport for NSW lists in its directory but keeps outside Opal fares.
Transport for NSW timetable valid from 3 October 2026 (PDF created 4 October 2026); identical to Captain Cook Cruises' own table. Both read on 7 October 2026 Transport for NSW – CCLC Lane Cove timetable (PDF) · 2026-10-07
Start by setting aside the idea that this is a Sydney Ferries route. None of the numbered lines from F1 to F10 goes up the Lane Cove River. The boats that do belong to Captain Cook Cruises and run under the code CCLC, and Transport for NSW files them with the private services in its own route directory — its current timetable, valid from 3 October 2026, says outright that Opal cannot be used on board.
Next, plan around the clock, because this service is shaped by office hours and three private schools rather than by sightseers. It runs Monday to Friday only and stops completely on public holidays. From the Quay there are three morning departures, a mid-afternoon school boat and a cluster between 16:30 and 19:00; towards the city, the first boat leaves Hunters Hill at 07:00 and the last one reaches Circular Quay at 20:00.
Finally, settle the payment before you queue. An adult single costs $7.90 from the operator, and regular riders cut that to $7.18 a trip with a multi-trip pass. Tapping an Opal card on Captain Cook's own reader also works, but as OpalPay, which takes the operator's fare from your balance and leaves your Opal caps untouched.
The fare is flat: the same price whether you ride from Greenwich Point to Balmain East or the whole way from Hunters Hill to the Quay, because Captain Cook sells a single Lane Cove–City ticket rather than distance bands. You buy it from the operator — through the Captain Cook Cruises app or at the Wharf 6 office — and show the barcode to the deckhand as you board.
Daily riders should look at the multi-trip pass in the same app, which brings an adult trip down to $7.18 and a child's to $3.54. A pass covers one trip at a time, can be redeemed only once every 20 minutes, and each traveller needs their own.
| Adult | $ 7.90 |
| Child, 4–15 | $ 3.90 |
| Adult | $ 7.18 |
| Child, 4–15 | $ 3.54 |
Captain Cook Cruises fares valid from 13 April 2026, read on 7 October 2026 Captain Cook Cruises – Lane Cove River Ferry prices · 2026-10-07
The line leaves Sydney Cove from Wharf 6, a few steps west of the Wharf 4 pontoon that the F2 to Taronga Zoo normally uses, and heads west under the Harbour Bridge. Most runs call at Balmain East and some at Jeffrey Street on the North Sydney shore; the three morning boats also stop at Birchgrove and Greenwich Point. Beyond Greenwich the boat is in the Lane Cove River itself, calling at Northwood and Longueville before Riverview College and the Alexandra Street wharf at Hunters Hill close the line.
Wharf 6 is the westernmost pontoon at the Quay and Captain Cook's own: its ticket office sits on the same wharf. Transport for NSW still prints its usual warning that a Circular Quay berth can change at short notice, and this one did move recently — from 20 July to 28 August 2026 the river boats left from Wharf 2 while NSW Maritime upgraded Wharf 6. That work has finished.
The terminus, and the only route that calls here is the CCLC. Transport for NSW rates the wharf as not accessible: there are stairs, the crew can help with a boarding ramp, and there is no machine to top up an Opal card or buy a ticket, so sort the fare out on your phone before you walk down.
At Hunters Hill the wharf has nowhere to buy a fare. Buy a single or a multi-trip pass in the Captain Cook Cruises app before you get to the pontoon, or at the Wharf 6 office for a trip that begins in town.
The operator marks certain calls as pick-up only or set-down only. The 08:00 from the Quay will drop you at Greenwich, Northwood or Longueville but will not take you upstream from them, and several morning arrivals at Circular Quay are set-down only.
This is a commuter and school service. Saturdays, Sundays and every New South Wales public holiday have no sailings at all, so a weekend trip up the river needs a different plan.
Transport for NSW classes Hunters Hill Wharf as not accessible: there are steps, and the crew can offer ramp assistance at boarding. Its timetable also warns that ramps steepen at low tide, when a wheelchair user may need help.
The river boats normally use Wharf 6, but the berth moved to Wharf 2 for six weeks in mid-2026 and the authority reserves the right to switch it at short notice. Read the departure screens instead of heading straight for the usual gate.
Captain Cook gives the river a second name, Turrumburra, and describes it winding down a bushland valley to meet the Parramatta River between Greenwich and Woolwich. The wharves along it are small neighbourhood landings rather than interchanges: Greenwich and Greenwich Point on the lower reach, Northwood and Longueville further up, a private landing at Riverview College, and Alexandra Street at Hunters Hill as the terminus. A trip from the top of the line to the Quay takes about half an hour.
The school traffic explains the timetable's lopsided look. The operator names Saint Ignatius' College Riverview, St Aloysius' College at Milsons Point and Loreto Kirribilli among the schools it carries pupils for, which is why the 15:28 from the Quay climbs to the Riverview College wharf and why the afternoon run home begins there at 15:50 and stops at every lower-river wharf. The OpalPay arrangement is identical to the one on Captain Cook's other harbour routes, explained in more detail on our Manly to Watsons Bay ferry page; the short version is that it is a payment method, not a fare discount.
None of them. The Lane Cove River is served only by Captain Cook Cruises' CCLC, which Transport for NSW lists under private ferry services. Look for Wharf 6 and the Captain Cook name, not a Sydney Ferries F-route.
No. You can pay with an Opal card through OpalPay at the operator's reader, but you are charged Captain Cook's own fare, nothing counts towards daily or weekly caps, and you should not tap an ordinary Opal reader. Transport for NSW's timetable rules out ordinary Opal fares on the CCLC.
The 19:00, which reaches Hunters Hill at 19:30 after calling at Balmain East, Greenwich, Northwood and Longueville. The last boat the other way leaves Hunters Hill at 19:30 and gets to the Quay at 20:00.
No. After the 08:35 from the Quay there is nothing until the 15:28 school run, and nothing at all at weekends or on any public holiday. Towards the city the gap runs from the 09:03 at Hunters Hill to the 15:50 from Riverview College.
Usually 30 minutes: the 07:00 from Hunters Hill arrives at 07:30, the 18:30 at 19:00. The afternoon school run is slower, leaving Riverview College at 15:50 and stopping at every lower-river wharf to reach the Quay at 16:30.
Children from four to fifteen pay $3.90 for a single trip, or from $3.54 a trip on a multi-trip pass bought in the operator's app. Captain Cook also lists concession and OpalPay prices, which we have left off because we could only read them in one place.
Wharf 6, Captain Cook's own berth and the most westerly pontoon at the Quay. It moved temporarily to Wharf 2 in July and August 2026 for wharf works, and Transport for NSW warns that berths at the Quay may be swapped with little warning — check the boards.