An Australian photographer, who spent nine years trying in vain to photograph Migaloo the albino whale, was finally credited for his long-running persistence on Friday when he captured all 50-tonnes of the amazing animal north of Newcastle.

These exclusive pictures of Migaloo, which Daily Mail Australia reported had been spotted in Sydney on Thursday, were taken by veteran photographer Ray Alley off the coast of Nelson Bay in NSW. The all-white Migaloo, who is migrating north for the winter from the cold waters of the Antarctic to the tropical warmth of north Queensland, stopped off for a rare display of showmanship on his way through at Nelson Bay.

Among the images Mr Alley took, was a stunning panograph of the beast breaching two-to-three kilometres offshore with his body completely arched out of the water. It was the first time the 54-year-old had boarded a whale watching vessel since giving up on the elusive hunt for Migaloo back in 2009.

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Using a lightning-fast shudder speed Alley captured the panograph of Migaloo breaching out of the water at Nelson Bay, north of Newcastle, on Friday.

Still getting over the shock of this amazing image, he told Daily Mail Australia today was the ‘holy grail’ in his 27-year photographic career:

‘I expected to see him today, because I got the call from one of the guys at Imagine cruises saying ‘we’ve got him’. But to get a full breach, it’s kind of like seeing Madonna drop her gear on stage, you really want it to happen but you don’t expect it too.’

Mr Alley said the image ‘eclipses’ his previous best photo of three humpback whales breaching off the coast of Nelson Bay back in 2004, known as a triple breach. It was regarded as one of the most amazing photo’s at the time, and believed to be perhaps the only image of three humpbacks breaching in the one photo.

He said after seeing Migaloo on Friday: ‘Mate, I can go to the grave happy now, this is the holy grail for me.’

Captured using a lighting-fast shutter speed on his high-powered Nikon camera, Alley shot the incredible panoramic picture of Migaloo’s full breach from  his exit out of the water right through to his re-entry.

Having toiled hard over the years, including spending six to seven days on whale watching boats during the peak migratory season, Mr Alley said Friday’s expedition made the wait for Migaloo all worthwhile. He said it may be something he never gets the chance to replicate again.

Photographer Ray Alley said hr had waited 14 years to even see Migaloo, let alone capture the great white whale jumping from the water

At the peak of his career, Alley would spend six or even seven days straight on the boat Imagine trying to get photos of whales during the migratory season

Friday’s whale watching exercise was a popular day for Nelson Bay vessels, with all vying for a glimpse of the great white whale in action. Alley put Migaloo’s sudden breach, about an hour after tailing him around, down to the departure of a competition cruise boat, Moonshadow Cruises, which turned and headed for shore minutes before Migaloo came up for air.

Alley said the sight of Migaloo was something to marvel. ‘He is just one of those whales that has a magnificent presence about him.’

Migaloo shares his distinguishable albino appearance with just one other white whale in the world, a Norwegian. He was first 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.

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Ray Alley shot this image of three humpback whales breaching out of the water in Nelson Bay back in 2004

This photograph of a humpack whale taken by Alley, with a distinct marking of a Batman-like logo on it’s stomach, featured on the front page of the Daily Mail back in 2008

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

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