Lake Macquarie ferry launches new timetable on first day of 2022

The vessel, on a six month trial in partnership with Lake Macquarie Council and local operator Lake Macquarie Cruises, will service Speers Point, Booragul, Toronto, Wangi Wangi and Belmont and departed Speers Point on its first official passenger voyage at 8.20am on Saturday morning.

The travel time from Toronto to Belmont on the ferry is about 15 minutes, cutting the travel time for the same voyage by car in half. The entire journey, with stops at the five hubs, takes less than an hour.

General Manager of Lake Macquarie Cruises, Peter Hanrahan, told the Newcastle Herald in December that the company had been operating cruises on the waterway for the past three years. During that time, he said he had heard "a lot of talk about the lack of connectivity on the lake, particularly for tourism and events".

"There has been demand for a long time for a ferry to be reinstated on the lake, so we're hoping that converts to bums on seats now we're underway," Mr Hanrahan said of the service on Saturday, which would initially be operating on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The ferry is expected to cater to locals as well as visitors to the Lake, with a network of stops connecting tourist destinations, but the service necessarily bypasses Warners Bay on account of its shallow waters which could not accomodate the vessel's 1.25-metre draw and lack of suitable wharf.

Lake Macquarie mayor Kay Fraser has, in previous weeks, indicated interest in seeing Warners Bay fitted out for another stop on the ferry's timetable, however jurisdiction over the lake's waters and bed rests with state authorities.

"There is so much history attached to ferry services in Lake Macquarie, from those early days to the Wangi Queen, which many people still remember fondly," she said.

"It's fantastic to see a ferry service return to the lake, and I just hope people get out there and support it."

While the Lake Mac Ferry service officially launched on Saturday, the vessel was launched in a preliminary service earlier in December, ferrying passengers to and from the Lake Mac Carols by Candlelight event at Speers Point Park.

The re-introduction of a ferry service on the Lake marks a return to a 135-year history for the area. Prior to the proliferation of motor vehicles around the Lake's shorelines, ferries were once a key mode of transport connecting the townships that surround Lake Macquarie in the late 19^th through to the mid-20^th centuries.

Cr Fraser had high hopes the new ferry service would herald a new connectivity for the approximate 209,000 residents of the local government area, and would "invigorate out lake, activate our foreshore and bring more business to our communities".

The ferry service departs Speers Point at 8.20am, 9.35am, 9.45am, 9.55am, 11.35am and 12.10pm; and Belmont at 9.05am, 10.25am, 11.05am and 12.40pm. The service will run three days each week.

A hop-on hop-off adult day pass is priced at $30, and $15 for children, with discounts for students. Same day return fares run to $26 for adults and $13 for children.

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