My family have always been huge fans of New Zealand – my mum comes from the capital – so we saved up and went for a holiday there. We started with a week in the city she grew up in. After that, we toured around for a while before ending up by chance in Kaikoura, a small town on the coast. The first evening it seemed a rather dull place, but the next day I remembered what I’d read about it – that it was often possible to see dolphins and whales there! I’ll always think of Kaikoura as the place where I finally achieved my lifelong ambition – to swim with wild dolphins.

My family and I set off on a dolphin trip on a cold, grey day with a number of other people on a small boat. However, the sky soon turned blue, and we raced across the waves in the sunshine until we finally reached the place where we were supposed to go swimming. To my surprise, this was more than 40 km from land. I was quite cold by this time, and really starting to wonder why my family had made me come all the way out there, when suddenly someone shouted ‘Dolphins!’.

All I could see were fins everywhere – there were more than a hundred dolphins, all swimming together. Many of them were jumping around in the water as if they were asking us to come and play. I put on my snorkel and jumped into the sea. Everywhere I looked, all I could see was dolphins, swimming under me and round me. Then I remembered the guide had told us to make sounds in the water to attract them. So I did and actually heard them making similar sounds, as if they were trying to answer me. I even made eye contact with one dolphin, and watched it carefully as I swam round in a circle. Amazingly, the dolphin almost followed me, but then changed its mind, though it kept eye contact with me all the time. It really made me realise how intelligent and beautiful these creatures are.

Then after an hour of swimming the guides called us to get back onto the boat. Although I had enjoyed myself, I was keen to leave the water by then as I was very cold. As I got dry I noticed that everyone on board was smiling and I realised what a very special moment we’d had. I’ll never forget that experience, and Kaikoura will always have a special place in my heart.

I’m a big fan of films featuring the spy James Bond. We’ve recently bought Quantum of Solace, in which Daniel Craig plays the part of Bond. I don’t know why the film’s got that name – but I really enjoyed it.

All the actors who’ve played James Bond have been good; he makes lots of other films, plays the part better than any of them. Even though he doesn’t talk very much, I think he’s the most personal actor for the role. He even does a few of the more dangerous things in the film himself, instead of getting someone else to do them. Whether he’d be clever enough to defeat the bad people – but I’m not going to tell you the ending! The actress who stars with Craig gives a fantastic performance too – I loved all the glamorous clothes she wore!

The director probably had a good idea making this Bond film as exciting as earlier ones. But the excitement starts right at the beginning here, with a car chase along a mountain road, and plenty of other thrilling scenes, lots of buildings and things, and it also seemed to be over very quickly – it lasted under two hours. I also felt there wasn’t as many jokes as in the old Bond films. I found the story difficult to follow in places. And where was all the ridiculous Bond equipment – the underwater car or exploding watch that everyone laughed at? No, this is a more serious, darker Bond film, but I still really enjoyed it.