An Auckland father and his two sons were treated to a special one-off performance from a pod of orca over the holiday break.
Kane Westgaard and his two sons, Bailey and Tyler, were out fishing on their launch on Boxing Day near Tiritiri Matangi Island when they were visited by the orca.
"We went to the inside of Shag Rock and then they popped up and my youngest said 'can we go over and see them in the dinghy?'," he said.
"So went over to them on the dinghy and they were playing around in one spot for a little while.
"As soon as I got about 30-40m away I turned the motor off and drifted towards them so they must have heard me coming and checked me out."