The Raymond Island Ferry is contracted by Council to a private operator.
Effective Tuesday 1 September 2020 the following charges for travel will apply -
All tickets, excluding annual passes, can be purchased from the ferry driver when boarding.
Annual passes can be purchased from our Bairnsdale or Paynesville service centres.
The Raymond Island Ferry leaves from the ferry terminals in Paynesville and Raymond Island.
Christmas Eve
Last service departs 1.00am Christmas Day.
Christmas Day
Train service departs 5.20am.
Services then operate from 6.40am to 11.40am continuous.
No ferry service between 12.00pm and 2.00pm.
Services resume at 2.00pm with the last service leaving at 11.00pm.
Boxing Day
Standard timetable applies.
New Year's Eve
Last service departs 1.00am 1 January.
New Year's Day
Standard timetable applies.
Please ensure you are waiting at the terminal prior to departure time to help with safe boarding and timely departures.
The crossing takes about 4 minutes.
Call the ferry on 0418 517 959 when departing Bairnsdale. The ferry will meet patrons at the Paynesville terminal. This service is a one-way service from Paynesville to Raymond Island. Normal patron and vehicle fees apply.
If you miss the last service or need the ferry out of hours it attracts a significant fee. You will need to contact the ferry on 0418 517 959 and pay the after hours service fee to access the ferry. Emergency services can access Raymond Island 24 hours a day.
This situation can occur for a variety of reasons including:
Download the Service Charter
Yes by completing a Change of Vehicle Application Form.
Raymond Island homeowners receive two fee-free annual passes. Extra passes can be purchased if required.
All annual ferry passes must be stuck to the bottom right corner of the vehicle’s windscreen so it can be easily seen by the ferry driver. If you don't display your pass, you will need to pay the appropriate ticket price.
Yes. Please contact our Finance Department on (03) 5153 9500.
We don't offer visitor passes, however we have multi-trip passes. These offer 10 return trips with no expiry period and are available for various vehicle types (car, bus, truck, etc.). The cost of a multi-trip pass is the same as 10 return trips on the ferry.
The ferry has an extensive proactive maintenance program that attempts to identify and address problems before they occur.
Scheduled outages - we have one scheduled outage where the ferry is taken out of the water for three weeks. This outage is every two to three years and is usually in October.
Unscheduled outages - we cannot give advance notice of unplanned outages.
During outages we put the following arrangements in place:
Pedestrians are able to use a free water taxi. The water taxi leaves from:
A vehicle barge is available during extended ferry outages.
Private vehicles are only allowed to use the barge in exceptional circumstances. Requests can be made directly to the ferry operator on mobile 0418 517 959.
The vehicle barge is used for:
The barge service operates from the following locations:
If the ferry breaks down, residents will be allowed to take their vehicle off Raymond Island to enable them to conduct their daily life.
Drivers are not allowed to leave their vehicles unless told to by the ferry operator.
Under maritime law, the Master/s of the vessel operating are responsible for ensuring passenger and vessel safety and accordingly are empowered to exercise absolute discretion on vessel operations which, in some situations may result in the following arrangements being varied or temporarily suspended.
If the lake water level changes, certain vehicles have trouble accessing the ferry. There is the possibility their undersides could strike the vessel; potentially causing significant damage to both the ferry and the vehicle.
We advise all truck and long vehicle drivers to check with the ferry operator on 0418 517 959 to ensure there are no restrictions in place. This should be done before loading and driving to Paynesville.
This approach is strongly recommended as the ferry driver will then be aware of a truck arriving. The ferry operator will then give instructions to help with boarding the ferry.
A group of Raymond Island volunteers run an SMS service that you can subscribe to for an annual fee.
Messages are sent at the ferry operator's request.
The service lets you know about unscheduled outages and service updates, it does not give reasons or offer advice.
To find out more, email or speak to the ferry driver.
Council is not involved in the information service. Although, on occasions, we may request a particular message. The timing and content of messages is controlled by the volunteers.
LED screens at both ferry terminals also provide details of ferry operations.
Yes, if they are on a lead and you keep them under control.
First speak to the ferry operator. If you have further concerns or the issue cannot be resolved by the ferry driver you can contact us.
The ferry is operated by a private company via a contract with East Gippsland Shire Council. All staff operating the ferry or substitute vessels are employees of the contractor.
The ferry is maintained by private contractors.