English-Australian actress Miriam Margolyes was in town and along with a large crowd of tourists and locals watched Big Jeff as he swam off the rocks and into the ocean.
Big Jeff showed up earlier this week.
Arriving just in time with her Australian and New Zealand film crew, Margolyes was "thrilled" to see the large elephant seal and said she had never seen anything like it.
"It looked right at me."
As the popular seal swam off, Margolyes said "everybody has to go sometimes".
Having entertained television and film audiences for more than 60 years, Margolyes is well known for her role as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series and her popular Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV documentary programmes Almost Australia and Australia Unmasked.
With her film crew of eight members, Margolyes was in Oamaru filming a new documentary series on the road in New Zealand and has been in the country for over a fortnight, filming the show.
"I love New Zealand and the people," Margolyes said.
The show is due to air in New Zealand, on Sky, at the end of the year.
The documentary crew were travelling on to their next stop in Waimate.
