i hear everyone banging on about the ferry cost to get to the island, but lets put this into perspective......
:- you pay something like $145 for a ferry ride with a trailer in tow to go to the tip, at a spot on the river you can throw a rock across to the other side of the river bank if you've got a good arm.
:- the barge to Fraser from Inskip is a 10 minute trip which costs $170 with a trailer on, the barge from Hervey Bay costs something like $160 for the vehicle and then anywhere from $70 -$110 extra depending how big your trailer is,
:- the Moreton Island ferry costs $230 ($260 peak periods) for a large 4wd and that only allows one extra passenger (add $45 for another 2 kids or $65 for 3 kids also) and then add another $195 ($230 peak periods) for the trailer up to 4mtrs long and $25 per mtr after that
.........all of these trips are relatively very short ferry rides compared to the overnight trip you take to get to Tassie (Moreton Island is the longest and takes a bit over an hour to get there). yes it's not cheap, but i think the price isn't over the top when you compare what the other barge and ferry's cost to travel on elsewhere in the country. at the end of the day you just need to budget what the extra cost is to get to the location you want to go to. we are looking at visiting Tassie in the next 12 months, i'm definately not looking forward to paying what it costs to get a 2.3 mtr high Cruiser with a KK on the back (one of the longest camper trailers on the market), it's going to cost me a motza, but it is what it is and i need to budget for that or don't go. part of the beauty of Tassie IMHO is the lack of people there, and i reckon the cost helps keep it that way, would you still want to go there if it was as busy as Surfers Paradise?