Recent IELTS exam questions 5 December 2018

Today I am going to talk about an activity that I do in my spare time. I will explain what the hobby is; how long I have been doing it; who I do it with and why it is important to me.

I don’t think you will be able to guess what my hobby is because it is quite unusual! In my free time, I work at an Alpaca Farm! An alpaca is an animal that is kept for its fleece, they look a little bit like sheep but with a very long neck! They are related to camels and llamas which you may recognise more easily. They usually live in South America, but there is an Alpaca Farm near to me in Sheffield and I work there at weekends. Although it is called an Alpaca Farm, in fact, there are lots of different animals there: horses; goats; sheep; some ducks and hens and even some llamas.

Working with the alpacas and the other animals on the farm means I have to get there early in the morning. I help to feed the animals and clean up after them. Sometimes I have to drive a tractor to take hay and water out to the horses. Often there are visitors to the farm and I will give them a guided tour and introduce them to all the different animals. At some times of the year, I help with special jobs to care for them, such as giving injections to protect them from illnesses or trimming their toenails if they get too long. My favourite time of year to help is in the spring when baby Alpacas are born. New-born alpacas have to stand up very quickly and within hours are drinking milk from their mothers and running around – it is amazing to watch.

I work on the farm with the farm manager. He is a very kind and funny man. Although we might not seem to have much in common on the surface, we get on really well together. We laugh and talk all the time whilst we are getting the jobs done.

Although my hobby is unusual it is very important to me. My full-time job is in indoors in an office and a lot of the time I am sitting down, so at weekends I like to get outside into the countryside and do some physical work that is completely different. I love the animals, the fresh air and the exercise. I also really enjoy talking with the farm manager as he can tell great stories. In the winter though it can be very cold, and trudging through 3 foot of snow to feed the animals is really exhausting. On those days I am glad that working with the Alpacas is just a hobby, I can spend the rest of the week in the warm!