Ferries from Mowbray Park ferry terminal

Mowbray Park sits on a bend of the Brisbane River in East Brisbane, and its 360 active sailings serve crossings so short they barely register — 3 minutes to Sydney Street, 4 to New Farm Park.

Where the boats go

• New Farm Park — about 4 minutes, 93 sailings.
• Sydney Street — about 3 minutes, 87 sailings.

Operated by Brisbane City Ferries.

Why a three-minute ferry exists

The Brisbane River loops through the city in tight meanders, so places facing each other across the water can be several kilometres apart by road. A three-minute crossing here replaces a drive round a bend that adds most of a quarter-hour.

That is the logic of the whole cross-river network: not distance, but geometry.

⚠ The terminal was rebuilt after the floods

Brisbane's ferry terminals were extensively damaged in the January 2011 flood, when pontoons broke free and travelled downriver. The replacements were designed to ride flood levels and to be recovered rather than lost.

Service still suspends when the river runs high — a risk worth knowing about in the wet season, which no timetable shows.

Mowbray Park

A riverside park with a swimming pool and lawns, in East Brisbane below Kangaroo Point. The terminal is at the bottom of it, reached on foot or by bus rather than by car.

Where it connects

New Farm Park at the other end has the Brisbane Powerhouse arts venue and the rose gardens; Sydney Street is the New Farm cross-river link. Both are stops on the wider CityCat network heading toward the centre and the university.