Photographer Victor Huang captured the southern right whale which spent a week in Wellington Harbour headed towards the Cook Strait on Wednesday morning.

The whale which spent a week in Wellington Harbour has been photographed "waving goodbye".

Photographer Victor Huang captured an image of the southern right whale's flipper from the Wahine Memorial Park at Breaker Bay, early on Wednesday morning.

Setting up to capture the morning light off Wellington's south coast, Huang noticed an unusual concentration of circling seagulls before seeing the whale's tail emerge from the sea.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF The Wellington whale, which some have called Matariki, went for a Sunday morning swim to Evans Bay. (file photo)

"The whale wasn't breaching after that … but then the side pectoral fin came out and that was the only photos that came out of it."

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Huang said the whale was travelling towards Cook Strait, and in an Instagram post thanked it for bringing Wellington together.

But the southern right whale appears in no rush to leave.

At 2pm, whale watcher Dan Vincent O'Donnell witnessed it in the same area, at Tarakena Bay.

He said it was diving, breaching and rolling around with its flippers in the air.

DEREK QUINN/SNPA The rare southern right whale swimming in Wellington harbour, just off from the ferry terminal. (file photo)

On Tuesday, the only sighting placed the whale in the channel of Wellington Harbour at midday.

Department of Conservation marine species support officer Hannah Hendriks said a ferry travelling through the channel reported the sighting.

A Niwa spokeswoman said staff were considering if the southern right whale had departed.

"With as many eyes on the harbour as there have been in the past few days, and given that it hasn't been seen today, it might have left the harbour."