King Island, like the State of Tasmania, has a natural advantage as an island and is relatively free of many pests, weeds and diseases that are present on mainland Australia. You can help protect this beautiful island by ensuring you don’t bring any unwanted guests with you when you come to visit. Please remember not to bring any fruit and vegetables, fish, animal products, plant material, soils and seeds. King Island has some of the best produce in the world – so there’s no need to bring anything!

Please also check that your golfing, camping, fishing and other equipment have been cleaned and dried and are free from soil, weed seeds and other potential pests or diseases. It only takes a weed seed or other introduced pest or disease to spoil the magic of this near pristine part of the world. It is a beautiful place – so let’s keep it that way! You help is appreciated. Find out more about how you can help protect King Island and Tasmania by visiting Biosecurtiy Tasmania’s Travellers Guide to Tasmanian Biosecurity webpage.

As with many other relatively isolated locations only Telstra’s mobile service is available. If your mobile phone is with Optus, Vodafone your phone will not work on King Island unless you have roaming turned on (please speak to your provider to find out the costs of this). Aldi sim cards work on King Island as they are using the telstra network. Mobile phones and prepaid telstra sim cards can be purchased at Currie Newsagency located within Currie post office.  Public Internet access is only available in a small number of locations and in limited amounts and with limited speeds. Please see the next question for more information. 

Free wifi is only available at the Currie library and outside the Currie post office (via Telstra air). The King Island Hotel provides free wifi for their customers.

Some accommodation providers do have wifi but it is only a few and with telephone/internet outages common, this cannot always be relied upon. If internet access is essential during your stay on King Island, please ensure you ask your accommodation provider prior to booking and consider bringing along your own device that can provide a hotspot for you via the 3G/4G Telstra network. 

It is not uncommon to see visitors and residents alike sitting in their car outside the library or the post office making use of the free 1/2 hour internet access via Telstra air.

Internet and computer access is also available at the visitor information centre, located at 5 George St, Currie at a cost of $2 per hour. This is available during the following hours:

Mon-Fri – 10:30am-3:30pm,  Sat – 10am-12pm, Sun – closed

No, we do not have any public transport on the island. Car hire is available at the airport, we recommend you book before arrival to ensure availability. 

No, we do not have any ride sharing, uber services or shuttle buses on the island.  The only way to get around King Island is in a hire car/borrowed car/borrowed bike or by foot.

Although there are currently no formal camp-sites there are plenty of excellent camping spots on King Island and camping is popular with the locals. It is always recommended that you contact the land owner to check whether camping is OK on their land and always observe the fire restrictions in place.

We do not have any companies that hire equipment on the island. If you are camping you will need to bring most of your equipment with you, with the exception of cooking gas which you are not allowed to bring on the plane. Gas and some camping items e.g chairs, mats, cooking stoves can be obtained from Jim Mckenzies agencies in Currie. Phone ahead to ensure they have what you need: (03) 6462 1415.

A few accommodation providers have bikes, surfboards or kayaks for their customers, so please check with your accommodation provider if you would like to access these items. 

Some visitors have had success with borrowing a bike or surfboard through posting a message on our community noticeboard on Facebook. You can access it via this link.

You can currently send your car to King Island on by boat from Tasmania. There is a tourist discount available but you will need to check the current arrangement with Bass Island Lines who are currently operating the service.

On census night in 2006 the King Island population stood at 1639. It is expected that the 2011 census will show a slight decline since then.

King Island sits half way between Victoria and Tasmania. Despite a couple of half-hearted attempts at secession, King Island is very much a part of Tasmania.

The season differs for male and female Crayfish but both commence on the 15th of November. The season for females ends on the 30th April of the following year while you can continue catching the males until 31st August. Further details are available from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment

You can taste a range of beautiful cheese between 11 am and 5 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday. You can also sit down and relax and enjoy a platter with a cold beverage.

There is police station in Currie which is staffed by three friendly, full time Police Officers.

King Island is served by Bass Island Lines which currently carries freight only and cannot accept passengers. To come to King Island you will need to fly from Tasmania or Victoria.

King Island has a mixture of gravel and sealed roads and very few cars. If you are not used to driving on unsealed roads then you need to take extra caution. You will find that some of our roads are narrow and if you see a truck heading towards you please slow down and move onto the edge of the road if possible. There’s no need to rush on King Island so take your time, drive safely and enjoy your surroundings.

They’re not pointing, they’re ‘waving’. The King Island wave is compulsory when driving on the island and failure to comply can result in a withdrawal of your cheese privileges. The range of waves varies from the classic single finger raise to a full eight finger salute. At no time during the performance of the ‘wave’ should you remove either hand from the steering wheel.

The weather on King Island can vary dramatically, even in one day. Make sure you take a raincoat, sun-hat, sun cream, swimwear and a warm coat wherever you go! The warmest and driest months tend to be December to March and the lowest temperatures and most rain are experienced in July and August. Average highs in the summer hover around 20 degrees C and the lows in winter are around 8 degrees C.

You can bring a dog or cat with you, but please check with the company you are hiring the car from first. If you plan to fly with REX you will need to provide your own cage. King Island Airlines have cages available but please check when you book as they may be the wrong size or could be reserved for another pet. For further information about Sharp Airlines please visit their website.  Before your dog arrives on King Island the owner must treat it for Hydatid Tapeworm 14 days beforehand.  Evidence must be provided open arrival that the dog was treated.  Please visit the Bio Security website for further information.  

Please contact Tasports on (03) 6461 1155 to get current information on mooring on King Island.

You can also find some information via these links:

Jack & Jude website

MAST website

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