Bus-ting the east-west divide

Published on 12 February 2025

Driving from Fairfield to Sydney beaches, including fuel, tolls and parking can cost more than $100 a day. This is just too much for our local families to be able to enjoy the beach in their own home town. That’s why we put on buses for our residents to enjoy the iconic beaches of Bondi, Manly and Cronulla, over January and early February.

I’m thrilled the free Beach Bus initiative was such a success, taking nearly 400 of our residents to some of Sydney’s most beautiful beaches in January and February.

There would be families in Fairfield City who had never been to the beach and equally, there would be people from Bondi who have never been to iconic Cabramatta, so we wanted to give the Bondi locals an opportunity to visit, enjoy a south-east Asian feast, see the Pailau Gates and soak up all the atmosphere Cabramatta has to offer. That’s why we offered Bondi locals the opportunity to hop on the bus and have a day trip to Cabramatta. The bus brought 35 visitors from Bondi to Cabramatta, allowing them to experience the vibrant culture and food of our community, while breaking down east-west divisions in Sydney. This was so successful they all now want to come back for our Lunar New Year celebrations this weekend.

Council’s Lunar New Year celebrations will be held this Saturday 15 February in Cabramatta Town Centre, 11am-9pm. Join us in celebrating the the Year of the Snake with an incredible day of fun and festivities. There will be lion dance performances, live music, children’s chopstick challenge, fun craft activities like stained glass snakes and a whole lot more.

You can also meet the God of Fortune and savour all the treats that our local restaurants will serve late into the night and of course don’t miss the spectacular fireworks finale at 9pm.

I can’t wait to celebrate and I hope to see you there.  For the full lineup visit www.discoverfairfield.com.au/lunarnewyear.