Whales get up extremely close and personal with Aussie couple

A couple out fishing have witnessed an incredible sight when two curious whales decided to get up extremely close and personal.

The pair were out on their boat off the NSW Coffs Harbour coast yesterday afternoon when the giants of the sea ventured over to say hello.

"It was awesome, so unexpected - we went out for a fishing trip and they just popped up under our boat, it was just an incredible experience," Bell Kennedy told Today.

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While boats are encouraged not to get too close to whales and dolphins and prohibited vessels are prohibited from coming within 300 metres of them, under Australian maritime laws, there was no stopping these inquisitive humpbacks.

"There were four of them, two a little bit further away and they were flapping their fins, waving and the two that were under the boat, they just kept popping up and saying hi, it was just an incredible moment," Bell said.

Bell said the water was calm, very clear and she and her partner Judd could see everything as the whales got within one metre of their boat.

But she admitted when she and her partner Judd spotted the whales approaching them, the adrenaline kicked in.

"I was like, 'oh, do we move? What do we do?' and Judd just said, 'nah, they're all around us, we better just sit here,'" she said.

"It got the heart racing for sure, but it was just an incredible, incredible experience."

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Bell said the whales stuck with them for about 15 minutes and when they set off again, more just kept popping up all around them.

"We couldn't really escape them, they just found our little six metre boat very, very welcoming, it was it was insane," she said.

"You just don't realise how big these beautiful creatures are until you're up close."

Check out Bell's incredible footage in the video above