Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Whale calf 'helps' push its stranded mother to safety 
 
 A humpback whale which was stranded on an Australian sandbank has freed itself after its calf was seen apparently nudging it into deeper water. 
 
 The whale was spotted near North Stradbroke Island, about 80km (50 miles) east of Brisbane, early on Wednesday morning. 
 
 Her distressed calf was later seen apparently pushing her as she splashed in the water to get free. 
 
 About 40 minutes after getting stuck, the whale was able to dislodge herself. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Whale calf tries to push its stranded mother to safety 
 
 Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services (QPWS) personnel were despatched to help the pair and planned to stabilise them until a team from Sea World, further along the coast, could arrive to help free them. 
 
 But incoming tides and the efforts of the young whale helped the mother get off the sandbank before they arrived. 
 
 Image copyright QPWS Image caption The pair are also believed to have been stranded nearby overnight, before becoming stuck again 
 
 "The whale was able to free itself and the adult and the calf were able to swim away," a spokesperson for QPWS told the BBC, adding that they successfully helped the pair out through shallow waters to the open sea. 
 
 "The mother was a bit tired and distressed". 
 
 Image copyright QPWS Image caption QPWS followed the pair to help them make it to deep water and avoid "restranding" 
 
 Whales are common at this time of year on the Queensland coast, where many go to give birth and begin rearing their calves before heading back to Antarctic waters. ||||| Whale frees itself following stranding off Queensland's Stradbroke Island 
 
 Updated 
 
 A whale has finally managed to free itself after spending hours stranded on a sandbar in waters off Stradbroke Island, east of Brisbane. 
 
 A Queensland Parks and Wildlife (QPW) spokesman said they first received reports on Thursday night of a mother and calf stranded on the sandbar at Dunwich, on North Stradbroke Island. 
 
 He said they managed to free themselves before the mother was re-stranded closer to shore this morning. 
 
 Footage shot earlier this morning showed the distressed calf swimming nearby and apparently trying to push it off. 
 
 At about 8:15am the mother managed to free itself. 
 
 A QPW boat is trailing the whales to help herd them out to sea and away from shallow waters. 
 
 Topics: animals, human-interest, qld 
 
 First posted ||||| He’s humpBACK! Australia’s favourite whale, Migaloo the albino, is spotted off the NSW coast 
 
 Amazing pictures of rare white whale swimming north off coast of Sydney 
 
 
 
 Migaloo, 35, photographed with 'competition pod' at Cronulla on Thursday 
 
 
 
 The much-loved whale has returned every year since first sighting in 1991 
 
 Migaloo is protected by Federal Law which prevents him being approached 
 
 
 
 Migration of humpback whales starts in Antarctica and finishes in North Queensland before returning south in September 
 
 The first pictures of one of the world's rarest sea creatures, Migaloo the white humpback whale, have been taken of the magnificent animal beginning his yearly migration north along Australia's eastern seaboard. 
 
 The all-white Migaloo who shares his distinguishable albino appearance with just one other white whale in the world, a Norwegian, was sighted for the first time this year by a member of the public just off the coast of Green Cape in southern NSW on Tuesday. 
 
 He was then spotted several times again on Thursday, with camera crews getting magnificent views of the 35-year-old off the coast of Sydney. He was snapped and filmed breaching in waters off Botany Bay, Cronulla and Bondi as Australia's much-loved white whale continued his three-month migratory trip from Antarctica to North Queensland and back. 
 
 
 
 Scroll down for video 
 
 
 
 Photographer Jonas Liebschner shot this stunning picture of Migaloo as he surfaced near the boat of Whale Watching Sydney at Cronulla in Sydney's south on Thursday afternoon 
 
 Migaloo was swimming in a 'competition pod' with four other Humpback whales as they tried to jostle one another for the leading position while heading north through Sydney 
 
 It is the 23rd consecutive year Migaloo has been spotted on the eastern seaboard, his first being in 1991 when he was sighted by marine biologist Dan Burns off the coast off Byron Bay. By Friday he will have made his way north of Newcastle, before reaching Queensland at the end of the month. 
 
 
 
 He is being joined by others from the Australian East Coast Humpback whale population, leaving the cool waters of the Antarctic behind in search of Queensland's tropical warm paradise. 
 
 
 
 Photographer Jonas Liebschner was on scene to snap Migaloo during his first movements through Sydney. Mr Leibschner was tipped off by whale station volunteers at Botany Bay that Migaloo and a pod of other humpbacks were swimming a few hundred metres off shore in what's known as a 'competition pod.' 
 
 'They try to swim as fast as they can and jostle for the dominant position, zig-zagging underwater,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 
 
 
 
 Usually restricted to a minimum of 150 metres from Migaloo, Mr Liebschner and his team from Whale Watching Sydney got closer than they anticipated because of the pods erratic underwater behaviour. He said his crew were forced to the boat's engine off and idle near the whales which surfaced closer to the boat than expected. 
 
 
 
 Migaloo, just one of two white humpback whales in the world, breaches in the foreground with a stunning afternoon backdrop of Sydney's CBD behind him Mr Liebschner was on Migaloo watch on Thursday, first heading to Bondi at 6.30am, before receiving a call from a whale station at Botany Bay to inform he and his whale watching team that Migaloo was further south 
 
 Migaloo is only part way into his three month winter journey from Antarctica to North Queensland in search of warmer water 
 
 The best places to catch Migaloo this week will be Newcastle and Nelson Bay, north of Sydney on Friday, before makes his journey north to Cape Byron where he was first spotted by a marine biologist 23 years ago 
 
 Australian laws exist whereby planes and sea craft are prohibited from entering a certain zone when photographing or filming Migaloo. Founder of the White Whale Research Centre Oskar Peterson, who has been tracking the albino's movements since he was first spotted in the early 90s, told Daily Mail Australia why. 
 
 
 
 Mr Peterson, who also runs a blog dedicated purely to the 'fascinating' sea creature, said Migaloo survived a run-in with a trimaran or outrigger boat which left him with significant black scarring on his lower back. The close shave meant tougher laws were brought in to protect the rare animal who has a life expectancy of 80. 
 
 
 
 'Planes have to stay at least 2000 feet from him and 500 feet if you are travelling in a boat,' Mr Peterson said. 
 
 
 
 Oskar Peterson excitedly tweeted to his followers about Migaloo's first Australian sighting for the 2104 migratory season 
 
 Cronulla, Botany Bay and Bondi were some of the areas around Sydney where Migaloo was spotted on Thursday 
 
 Members of the public were more than interested in getting a glimpse of the famous white whale 
 
 Mr Peterson also took to twitter on Thursday afternoon to spread the good news that Migaloo was in Sydney. 'Attention Sydney whale watchers. Migaloo was just sighted off Cronulla 30 minutes ago, heading north towards Bondi, enjoy!' 
 
 The researcher runs his pet, not-for-profit blog full of facts, photos and other tidbits about Australia's much-loved sea creature. The site, migaloo.com.au, is used predominantly as an education tool for school children. 
 
 'I've had quite a lot of money offered for the website, but I use it as an educational site mainly for school kids who send me plenty of emails at this time of year.'
– Workers in Australia's Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services were saved some work Wednesday morning, and they've apparently got a young humpback whale to thank. Responding to help an adult whale beached on a sandbar, the workers found that she had managed to free herself before they got there. The incoming tide surely helped, but both the BBC and Australia's ABC report that her young calf appeared to be trying to nudge her off the sandbar near North Stradbroke Island, about 60 miles south of Brisbane. (See this video.) "The mother was a bit tired and distressed," says a QPWS spokesperson. Whales are a common sight off the Queensland coast this time of year, as they migrate north from their Antarctic habitats to give birth to new calves. Australian scientists have been using drones to study the migration, mating, and behavioral patterns of whales, the West Australian reports. (Humpbacks have been known to save other animals from killer whales.)