Heaps Good South Aussies | Meet Adelaide’s beach-loving alpaca, social media sensation Alfie

Alfie is far from your typical alpaca – or city pet. He’s adored by locals on regular beach walks and is a social media sensation, but how did the fluff ball win over his owner?

If you’ve ever been out for an evening stroll along Brighton Beach, chances are you’ve come across Alfie.

While his ancestors hail from South America’s glorious mountain ranges, the woolly alpaca has always loved the beach, says owner Jeff Cheng, 38.

There’s nothing the seven-year-old loves more than rolling around in the sand for a dust bath or dipping his hoofs into the ocean for a quick dip.

“The very first time we went to the beach, as soon as his feet hit the sand, he dropped and rolled around happily dust-bathing,” Mr Cheng says.

“When it’s hot he will walk in the water, and when it’s really hot we will go deeper for a swim.”

Since first going viral in 2019, Alfie and Jeff have become local celebrities of sorts, quite literally turning heads wherever they go with their Instagram page racking up over 441,000 followers from all around the world.

“I started Alfie’s page as somewhere to dump all my photos without spamming my friends on my personal page,” Mr Cheng says.

“We had no idea how popular he would become.”

“We just share the fun things that he does, he makes people smile and that’s great.”

Alfie the Alpaca is the talk of Brighton Beach. Picture: Ben Clark

Alfie is a favourite sight at the beach. Picture: Ben Clark

I had the joy of meeting the pair for a stroll along the beach and couldn’t help but notice the paparazzi (beachgoers with smartphones) crowding around us the entire time.

It goes without saying that Alfie’s charm is irresistible, even I couldn’t help but grin when I first caught sight of his fluffy face.

One passer-by couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Alfie on the sand, saying he needed to take a picture otherwise nobody would believe him.

More like a cat in nature, he’s incredibly curious and loves his personal space.

But when it comes to being in the spotlight, he’s a natural who knows how to work the camera.

Neither Alfie or Jeff are phased by the attention, simply happy to see the smiles on people’s faces as they walk by.

“It never gets old seeing people’s (adults and children) faces light up when they see him,” Jeff says.

“People always smile when they see Alfie out and about. We get lots of curious questions, and photos.

“All the neighbours know him, so they ask about him when we bump into them.”

Why did the alpaca cross the road? To go for a dust bath at the beach of course! Picture: Ben Clark

Mr Cheng is more than happy to answer rapid-fire questions about Alfie between pictures like, “is he real?” or “is he an alpaca or a llama?” and “where do you even get an alpaca from in South Australia??”

The answer to the latter being Willunga where he adopted Alfie from an alpaca farm seven years ago.

It was a complete “YOLO” moment for the operations planner who originally planned to just go ask the owner about alpacas.

Firing up his 1970s Rolls Royce, he made the short drive and came home with Alfie – much to the surprise of his wife, Sophie, who he broke the news to in a text.

“I saw someone else walking one on a lead in a park and I thought it was cool so I thought why not give it a shot and that I’d get one as well,” he said.

“(I went to the farm) just to have a look and I saw a whole bunch of little (alpacas) and was like, I had to adopt one.

“My partner didn’t know that I was out at an alpaca farm that day so I took a photo (of Alfie in my car) and sent it to her while she was at work – I’m sure she was quite surprised.”

They’ve been inseparable ever since with Mr Cheng going above and beyond to take care of Alfie, even organising play dates with other alpacas.

“We have set up play dates with other alpacas, but since he was raised around humans, he is more curious about *their* humans than alpacas,” he laughed.

“He’s just our fuzzy little guy.”