Queenscliff - Sorrento Ferry

The Queenscliff-Sorrento car and passenger ferry links two attractive seaside destinations - the Mornington and Bellarine Peninsulas. There are two vessels, the "M.V. Queenscliff" and the "M.V.Sorrento" and they depart Sorrento Pier and Queenslciff Harbour every hour between 7am and 6pm, every day of the year. An adult one way fare is $10 for foot passengers and from $55.50 for a car and one adult. Sorrento is a nice day trip and you could drive to Sorrento, spend a couple of hours, catch the ferry to Queenscliff then drive back to Melbourne via Geelong.

The M.V. Queenscliff was put into service on the 22 December 1993. Traffic using the ferry service continued to grow though the 1990s, carrying about 110,000 cars/trucks/coaches/motorcycles and 600,000 passengers each year so by 2000, a second ferry was needed. The MV Sorrento was built in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia at a cost of $12 million.

A Bit of Trivia
On 12 October 2005 the Australian Defence Force staged an anti-terrorism exercise on the MV Queenscliff. Two Black Hawk helicopters were used to fast rope members of the Tactical Assault Group onto the roof of the ferry, and members of the Boat Assault Force boarded the ferry from inflatable dingies


The M.V. J.J. Farnsworth
There was another, smaller ferry which plied these waters for many years and carried passengers only. The M.V. J.J. Farnsworth which travelled Sorrento-Portsea-Queenscliff, closed down in the early 2000's due to the increased frequency of the two larger vessels.

The photo below was taken in the late 1990's. I didn't have a digital camera then and this was taken with an instamatic ($29.95 from the local chemist) I used my digital camera and took a photo of a photo so the quality isn't all that good.

The old ferry
Photo taken at Sorrento pier, one April late 1990's. It was really fun riding in this - if you stood near the front of the boat, as the swell of the water rose, the boat dipped so low you almost touched the water! Great fun but it did make you feel a little giddy.

Today's Quote: The water is the same on both sides of the boat ~ Finnish proverb.