Cue Card # 111: An excursion to a local tourist spot

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 111

Describe an excursion to a local tourist spot in which you joined.

You should say:

• when it was
• where it was
• how you reached there

and explain what you did there.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer:

Known as ‘The Emerald City’ of Australia, Sydney – a coastal metropolis with about five million residents – has no shortage of cool and awesome tourist spots, like the glittering harbour, complemented by popular landmarks like Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, among many other things. Today, I would like to talk about my excursion to one such very popular yet a local tourist spot, in Australia, which I joined about a few years ago.

By the way, I am not a resident of Sydney (I live in Melbourne), nor I ever visited this place before 2015. But, then I told to myself one day that it was quite a shame for me that being an Australian, I didn’t visit Sydney, which was and is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

So, when the opportunity arrived, as I finally got a two-week paid vacation from my company in 2015, I immediately backpacked and flew to Sydney. First few days, of course, I mainly roamed around the city, trying to visit some of its beautiful parks, spending time in the beaches, walking in the streets, and enjoying some of the most delicious cuisines in different restaurants, among other things. But, then came the opportunity to join an excursion, organised by my hotel with the help of a local tour operating company, in order to see the Blue Mountains. By the way, the Blue Mountains are a mountainous region that is located about 120 kilometres west of Sydney.

Anyway, after going to the Blue Mountains area, I was offered the opportunity to ride a glass-floored cable car, suspended above a steep gorge, to enjoy the most breathtaking and panoramic view of the mountains from above. There, I also got to explore one of the world’s finest and oldest cave systems at the Jenolan Caves, the Underground River, and amazing rock formation, dating back more than 350 million years. Needless to mention, after finishing my excursion to the Blue Mountains, I just kept telling myself that it was silly of me not to have visited this place before.