As I was planning to be in Sydney for 1 day, twice in two weeks – thanks for the British Airways/Iberia fare from Paris to Madrid, I began to research ways to bypass the Sydney airport Gatepass fees for the suburban trains. These Gatepass fees amount to around 12$ one-way. Thats quite a rip-off, just to be able to use the public transport train from the airport. The normal train-fare is on top of this fee.
For example: The fare to the city from the airport will be around 16$ (4$ fare + 12$ Gatepass fees).
I did not wanted to pay these rip-off fees. Once I went online, I saw a few reviews talking about Wolli Creek station from the airport and thus skipping these fees. I had no hurry to get to the city and decided to try this method.
The report below, details how you can go to and fro to Wolli Creek from the International Airport and bypass these Airport Station Gatepass fees. It is quite a nice walk, along the bridge on Marsh Street, then Cahill Park, etc.
Airport and Wolli Creek
Distance: 1.8 km
Walking time: around 20 mins
Walk from the Sydney International Airport to Wolli Creek
Step 1: Finding Marsh Street Bridge
Once you exit from the international terminal (T1), follow the pedestrian path under the multistory car park. It is quite a busy area where Taxis/cars are picking/dropping passengers. Just continue walking along the parking building and then to the left side of the customs building. Pretty soon, you will see this sign: Way to Marsh Street.
Follow this sign and make sure you go under the bridge and then walk along the Marsh Street going west.
2) Getting to Cahill park
Walk along the Marsh Street bridge, to get to Cahill park. Once the bridge slopes down and meets the ground, you will see a small footpath going into the park on the right side. Turn right at this point and enter the park.
Walk through the park, with Cooks river on your right. Its quite a pleasant park to walk around. Once the river and the path begins to curve, you will notice a traffic light on your left. Head to the traffic light.
Cross the light, and follow the road (it curves slowly to the right) to the Wolli Creek station. While I was there, there was quite some construction going on on this street. But I was still able to walk around it.
Walk from Wolli Creek to the Sydney International Airport
The walk back from Wolli creek to the International Airport follows the same path in reverse. In fact I found at 2 (important) places there were sign postings, saying that this is the path to T1 – International Airport.
The first of these sign can be found on the Marsh Street bridge – directing towards T1. Thus, once you have walked from Cahill Park to Marsh Street bridge you will see this sign.
Once you get down from the Marsh Street bridge, then you have to go under this bridge to walk towards the International Airport. You will notice this sign, guiding you towards T1.
Once you are in the airport area, walk around the car parking building to the International terminal.
Verdict
I loved this walk, it was not just money savings but also gives nice view of the airport apron and the parked aircrafts.