Extraordinary footage capturing the moment a swimmer is surrounded by a pod of killer whales has gone viral.

New Zealand woman Julie Johnson was out on a training swim when the mammals decided to join her.

The video, filmed by Australian Dylan Brayshaw on a drone, shows the whales playfully coming up to Julie and joining her swim off New Zealand’s east coast.

One whale can be seen following her closely, coming right up to her feet.

 

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Here is the footage from Hahei Beach, New Zealand, super lucky to be there at the exact moment these Orca interacted and played with Julie Johnson. Julie was out for a training swim when she got experience of a lifetime.

A post shared by Dylan Brayshaw (@dylan_brayshaw) on Dec 12, 2018 at 3:44am PST

Dylan tells Ben Fordham it was a matter of “right place, right time”.

“I just couldn’t believe it, I knew I had something special.”

Click PLAY below to hear from Dylan