A wine bottle with a letter inside has washed up on an Aussie beach more than a decade after it was dropped into the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the world.
Local Tony made the astonishing discovery while he was walking along the beach in Peterborough, in Victoria’s south-west, on Monday.
He later shared photos of the green glass bottle, which was covered in dozens of shells on one side on Facebook.
The bottle was dropped into the ocean around 50km off the coast of Brazil between Rio de Janeiro and Salvador on November 3, 2008.
‘Greetings, your curiosity has paid off. Thank you for recovering this bottle and taking [the] time to see what was inside,’ the letter read.
‘I have placed bottles like this one in several oceans at many different locations all over the world in the hope that people like you might find this bottle and return the note to me in the United States.’
The author was US man Joe Johnson, who has dropped dozens of empty wine bottles into oceans around the world while on overseas cruises.
Mr Johnson said he threw the bottles in the hope that someone would find them and return to him.
‘I would appreciate you sending me this note so I can find out how far the bottle travelled and for how long,’ he wrote.
‘To make it worth your while to participate in my experiment, I will send you $20 (US) upon receipt of this note’.
Mr Johnson, who lives in the small Maryland town of Towson, was shocked to learn that his letter washed up on ‘s shores.
‘My wife and I took an awful lot of cruises, I don’t remember that specific bottle,’ he told ABC Radio Melbourne on Tuesday.
‘It’s so interesting … especially since it came from Brazil to .’
Rio De Janeiro is more than 13,100km away from the Victoria beachside town of Peterborough.
Mr Johnson added that it’s very rare for someone to notify him that one of the hundreds of bottles that he has discarded had been found.
The veteran traveller vowed keep his word when asked whether he would come good on his promise to give beachgoer Tony $20.
Shocked social media users were quick to express their enthusiasm over the rare discovery.
‘How fantastic – I love that!’ one person wrote.
Another added: ‘Made its way to – how amazing!
‘Wow that’s a long time bobbing up and down in the ocean,’ a third chimed in.
Many urged the local who found the bottle to claim the money promised.
Others were fascinated by how far the bottle travelled.
‘That’s a really fascinating find! To think it has survived 16 years in the ocean,’ one person wrote.
This is amazing! What a find. If only that bottle could talk, what an adventure,’ another person wrote.