Spectacular footage shows giant whale and her calf surprising group of surfers

You never know what is lurking beneath in the great open sea, and this spectacular footage is proof that humans couldn't be more out of place when we go for a paddle.

This is the incredible moment a southern right whale and her calf surprised a group of surfers near the shore of Manly Beach in New South Wales in Australia.

Check out the mind-blowing footage below - how would you react to this?

The footage was captured by couple Thom , 29, and Lianne, 26, who originally hail from the Netherlands.

After meeting in Sydney 11 months ago, the couple now resides in NSW and were able to capture this incredible event on Thom's drone.

Speaking of the footage, Thom Van Mil said: "We kind of live on the beach and received a phone call that some whales came very close.

"So I grabbed my drone and ran to the beach where it all happened.

"First of all, I didn't see the whale because I was looking too far. I didn't realize the whale was so close."

Thom added: "In the video, you see a southern right whale with her calf swimming very close to the beach in Manly. There were loads of surfers close to the whales and it looked like the calf wanted to play with the surfers.

"We thought the mother became a bit nervous and swum towards the surfer and hit a few of them with her tail. There was even a diver who sat on the back of the whale. In our opinion they all came too close to the whales and especially the diver shouldn't have try to come so close. But hey, what would you do?"

Per the Greenpeace website, southern right whales are "quite curious and playful when they are close to humans."

In addition, they are one of the largest species of whale in the world - with the average female growing to be about 16 meters (52.5 feet) in length. They can also grow to weigh around 40 tons.

Thom added: "When we saw what was happening we could see everything on my phone. We immediately knew this was something special. The rest is history.

"It's been a massive week since both our faces were visible and all over the world. Especially in our home country, it was a big thing. Right now, to be honest, we are very proud of the footage we have."

You can follow Thom and Lianne’s adventures on their Instagram page, HERE.