Genevieve Robinson, who is trained as a marine mammal medic, was walking along New Brighton Beach yesterday when she spotted a magnificent southern right whale come up to the surface for "quite a lot of time".
It was the first southern right whale she has ever seen, she said.
"It's not a common occurance, not along there anyway.
"I'm used to looking out for dolphins as opposed to large whales, so it was actually quite an amazing experience."
She said the whale appeared close to a few large ships further out to sea, so she alerted the harbour master and the Department of Conservation.
Adult southern right whales range between 11m to 18m long.
They are typically black in colour but can have irregular white patches. Their flippers are large and paddle-shaped.
They are slow swimmers but are very acrobatic and inquisitive.
Southern right whales almost reached extinction during New Zealand's whaling era between the late 18th century and 1965 but numbers have since recovered.
