Island boats from Moreton Bay to the Torres Strait, cable ferries on the Daintree, Noosa and Brisbane rivers, and Brisbane's own river ferries.
Most Queensland routes on this site are island crossings, and no two work the same way. K'gari has two of them: SeaLink's booked ferry from River Heads to Kingfisher Bay on the sheltered western shore, and the Manta Ray barges from Inskip Point to Hook Point, which shuttle on demand in daylight with no booking and answer to the tide more than the clock. Whichever way you cross, a vehicle heading beyond the resort grounds or off the barge ramp needs a Queensland Parks permit bought in advance. Further up the coast, Curtis Ferry Services' vehicle ferry from Gladstone Marina calls at Facing Island on only some days of the week, and campers there need a council permit and all of their own drinking water.
Further north the boat is often sold as part of a day out, and the terms vary from island to island. In the Whitsundays, Cruise Whitsundays keeps its plain Daydream Island transfer for resort guests and sells day visitors a package, while its boats from Port of Airlie to Hamilton Island are open to anyone. From Cairns, Green Island can be booked as a boat-only transfer if you look past the reef packages, and several companies share the run to Fitzroy Island, where the hour of the last boat home separates them more than the fare.
At the top of the state the ferries are working services. Peddells crosses from Seisia on Cape York to Thursday Island, on fewer days from October to March, and Rebel Marine's much shorter ferry between Thursday Island and Horn Island is timed around the flights that use the Horn Island runway.
Close to Brisbane, Moreton Bay has its own pattern: Translink's 50-cent fares cover the passenger boats to Russell Island and Coochiemudlo, while the vehicle barges to the same islands are priced separately by their operators. Off Townsville, Magnetic Island splits the same way, with SeaLink's 20-minute passenger boats and a second company that takes cars as well as walk-on passengers.
Not every Queensland crossing goes to an island. Three cable ferries still carry roads across rivers that were never bridged: the Daintree crossing north of Port Douglas, the punt to Noosa North Shore and Moggill's ferry on the Brisbane River, which is shut for maintenance from 7 November to 6 December 2026. In the city itself, the CityCat and the Bulimba cross-river boat are ordinary Translink services.