Maria Island has no shops, no bins and no cars, and the one scheduled way across is Encounter Maria Island's passenger ferry from Triabunna, on Tasmania's east coast. The boat fare and the national park fee are two separate purchases — one paid to the ferry company, the other to the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service — and both are checked before you walk down the wharf.
Encounter Maria Island's published timetable, transcribed on 1 October 2026. The summer pattern applies now and runs to the end of April 2027; the winter pattern applies from May to August 2027. The operator prints no year and says each day's sailings are confirmed in its booking system Encounter Maria Island – Timetable · 2026-10-01
Does a ticket on the Maria Island ferry get you into the national park? It does not, and the Triabunna check-in desk is where that gets tested: Parks and Wildlife staff look at every passenger's parks pass along with their luggage. The $59 adult day return goes to Encounter Maria Island. The pass, from $24.55 per person for 24 hours, goes to the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, because the whole of Maria Island is national park. Add it while booking the ferry online, buy it at the Maria Island Gateway on the morning, or get it from Parks and Wildlife beforehand.
The boat ride is the simple part. By the operator's count it takes about half an hour from Triabunna, in the Glamorgan Spring Bay municipality, to the jetty below Darlington, the old convict township at the north end of the island. From September to April there are four sailings each way every day except Christmas Day. From May to August there are three, and none at all on Tuesdays or Thursdays.
Every ticket is a return, same day or overnight. No single-journey fare exists, so decide before booking whether you are catching the 4:15 pm back or sleeping over.
Treat the day as two bills: the boat is paid to Encounter Maria Island, the island to Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service. The overnight return costs more than the day ticket because it carries two 17 kg bags on top of the lap-sized carry-on everyone gets.
On the park side, someone walking on alone needs the 24-hour person pass. A carload is different. Parks and Wildlife says a vehicle pass also covers Maria Island, even though the car stays in Triabunna, so for three or more people who drove over together the $49.15 vehicle pass beats buying one pass each. Bring it with you on the boat: it is checked at the Gateway.
| Adult | $ 59 |
| Concession (Pension Card or Health Care Card) | $ 47.50 |
| Australian secondary student | $ 36.50 |
| Child 4–16 | $ 36.50 |
| Infant 0–3 | Free |
| Adult | $ 70 |
| Concession (Pension Card or Health Care Card) | $ 59.50 |
| Australian secondary student | $ 47.50 |
| Child 4–16 | $ 43 |
| Infant 0–3 | Free |
| Each extra bag, up to 17 kg | $ 11 |
| Bicycle, up to 15 kg, panniers off | $ 20 |
| Kayak, emptied | $ 28 |
| Scuba gear | $ 17 |
| Gas bottle | $ 11 |
| Pram, travelling with an infant | Free |
| 24-hour pass, per person on foot | $ 24.55 |
| 24-hour pass, per vehicle (up to 8 people) | $ 49.15 |
| Holiday pass, up to 2 months, per person | $ 49.20 |
| Holiday pass, up to 2 months, per vehicle | $ 98.35 |
| Annual pass, one park | $ 53.50 |
| Annual pass, all Tasmanian national parks | $ 104.75 |
Ferry fares and freight read from Encounter Maria Island on 1 October 2026 (no end date printed). Parks pass fees from Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service and Service Tasmania, both updated 1 July 2026 Encounter Maria Island – Fares · 2026-10-01
Measured point to point, the crossing is about 14 kilometres, just under eight nautical miles, from the Triabunna jetty to the wharf below Darlington on the side of Maria Island that faces the mainland. By road, Triabunna is 86 km from Hobart along the Tasman Highway (A3) — roughly 75 minutes by the operator's reckoning — and 186 km from Launceston via National Highway 1 to Campbell Town and then the Lake Leake Highway.
Without a car, the connection starts on Hobart's waterfront at Brooke Street Pier, the same pier used by the Bellerive ferry across the Derwent. The state's other crossings are gathered on our Tasmania ferries page.
Every passenger checks in here, ticket or no ticket, bags or no bags, at least 45 minutes before sailing. The Maria Island Gateway is a Parks and Wildlife building beside the wharf, and the staff inside look at your luggage and your parks pass, sell passes to anyone who has not bought one, and take camping fees. From 1 September to 30 April it opens at 7:45 am — precisely the check-in deadline for the 8:30 boat — and from May to August at 9:00 am.
The ferry company says parking is free at the Triabunna marina and in the streets around it, with permit zones on the wharf itself to steer clear of. Triabunna has a supermarket and a couple of cafés, and they are the last shops you will see until you are back.
The boat lands at the Darlington jetty, about ten minutes on foot from the township, the old Penitentiary and the bike collection point. Trolleys wait on the jetty for campers hauling tents and eskies up to the campground behind the dunes.
Darlington is a worksite this spring. Water, wastewater and electrical services are being replaced, with Parks and Wildlife expecting to finish in November 2026, later than the September date the ferry company gave. Expect machinery and dust, follow the signs, and do not count on a shower: on 30 September the campground page still listed them as closed.
A same-day return includes one carry-on of about 7 kg, no bigger than 600 × 400 × 300 mm, that you can hold on your lap. Overnight tickets add two checked pieces of up to 17 kg each. Anything more is freight, and no single item may weigh over 25 kg or be tied to another one.
Your own bike costs $20 to ship if it weighs 15 kg or less with the panniers taken off. Hire bikes are hard-tail mountain bikes for riders aged seven and up, booked with your ferry ticket no later than 24 hours before you sail, and collected beside the Penitentiary by 3:15 pm. Helmets are compulsory, and riding is banned on beaches and the Bishop and Clerk track.
The only vehicles on the island belong to Parks and Wildlife. E-scooters are not allowed. E-bikes are, if they are under 200 watts (or 250 watts pedal-assisted), carry a bell, a rear reflector and front and rear lights, and show the maker's plate — and there is nowhere on the island to charge them.
Maria Island has no shops, cafés or bins, and its tap water must be treated or boiled for a minute before drinking. Coffee, snacks and Tasmanian beer and wine are sold on the ferry, the last chance to buy anything.
Weather can delay or cancel a sailing, and the operator then contacts passengers itself, so book with a phone number you will answer. Mobile reception ashore depends on your carrier.
The crossing follows a far older one: Parks and Wildlife records that Oyster Bay nation people paddled canoes to the island they knew as wukaluwikiwayna, home of the Puthikwilayti. From 1825 it held a penal settlement, and from 1842 to 1850 a convict probation station whose Darlington buildings PWS calls the most intact in Australia, World Heritage-listed since 2010 among the Australian Convict Sites.
The concrete silos near the jetty belong to a later chapter, the cement works of the Italian entrepreneur Diego Bernacchi in the late 1800s. The island became a national park in the early 1970s, and in 2012 fifteen Tasmanian devils were brought here for a breeding program, after Devil Facial Tumour Disease had cut their numbers across the state. That status, not the ferry company, is what sets the island's rules: no private vehicles, no rubbish left behind, and a parks pass for every visitor.
No. The $59 adult day return is Encounter Maria Island's fare; the parks pass is a separate Parks and Wildlife Service fee, from $24.55 per person, sold in the online ferry booking, at the Gateway on check-in, or by PWS in advance.
On foot, the 24-hour person pass at $24.55. If you drove to Triabunna with others, the 24-hour vehicle pass at $49.15 covers up to eight people, and Parks and Wildlife confirms it is valid on Maria Island even though the car cannot go. Staying longer, the holiday pass covers every Tasmanian national park for up to two months: $49.20 a person or $98.35 a vehicle.
The operator does not list one. It sells a same-day return ($59 adult) and an overnight return ($70 adult) for sailing back on a later date, which also includes two checked bags of up to 17 kg.
4:15 pm, whichever timetable is running, summer or winter. Nothing is sold to eat ashore and a bed is guaranteed only if you booked the Penitentiary or packed a tent, so do not miss it.
Yes, as freight. A bike of up to 15 kg is $20 with panniers removed; e-bikes must be under 200 watts or 250 watts pedal-assisted, with a bell and lights, and cannot be charged on the island. A kayak is $28 once everything inside it is checked in separately. E-scooters are not allowed.
The two official sources disagree. Encounter Maria Island says about 30 minutes between Triabunna and Darlington; the Parks and Wildlife pages say around 45. The timetable itself allows 45 minutes between the 8:30 departure and the 9:15 return, which fits the shorter figure.
No. In winter, May to August, the boat sails on five days, skipping Tuesdays and Thursdays, with departures from Triabunna at 10:00 am, 11:30 am and 3:15 pm. From September to April it runs daily except Christmas Day.
The operator says parking is free at the marina and in nearby streets, but some spaces at the wharf are permit zones. Leave time for the 45-minute check-in at the Maria Island Gateway on the corner of Charles Street and Esplanade West.
A shuttle bus run by East Coast Cruises leaves Hobart from Brooke Street Pier and can be booked through the ferry's own website. The bus fare does not include the ferry, and the shuttle operator says it has no room for bikes, so plan to hire one on the island instead.