An orca whale stranded west of Auckland was transported by road today and released off a city beach.
The 3.4-metre juvenile female, estimated to be three years old, was reported at 3pm yesterday to have been beached at Huia.
It was looked after overnight by Project Jonah and Department of Conservation staff.
Department spokesman Bill Trusewich said the whale was small enough to be handled and a decision was made this morning to move it by trailer to Takapuna, on Auckland's North Shore.
The reason for the 43km journey, which took about 90 minutes, was that the water was calmer at Takapuna than at Huia.
Mr Trusewich said the whale didn't take long to get refloated.
"Within 10 minutes it was able to regain its stability again and move off by itself," he said.
As it made its way out to Rangitoto Channel it was being monitored to ensure it did not try to come back ashore or lose its bearings.
The monitoring on the water was done by New Zealand orca researcher Ingrid Visser and Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the late ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau.
Jean-Michel Cousteau and his son, Fabien, have been in New Zealand shooting footage for a television programme.
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