A Victorian boy has described his close encounter with a whale after the ocean giant flicked its tail and knocked him off his surfboard.
Amateur footage captured the moment 14-year-old Darby Walker paddled a little too close to the southern right whale as it frolicked off Venus Bay on the state's east coast.
The mammal appeared to demonstrate some playful behaviour around the surfers, but Darby and his fellow riders were cautious to keep their distance after witnessing its powerful tail flick.
"It's sitting there and then I thought, okay, I'm going to try to touch it," Darby told Nine News.
"It seemed pretty mellow so I paddled in there and then it submerged its tail and I kind of swum on top of the tail not knowing then his tail just came up and gave me a quick flick.
"It flipped my board up and hit my chin which was pretty cool."
Darby's father, Cam, was watching the incident from the beach said the whale was "obviously curious".
"After that encounter with Darby you could tell that, it actually circled before it sailed off into the sunset and it was almost as though it bid him a fond farewell,"
Authorities advise surfers and swimmers to stay at least 50m from whales.
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