Like plenty of kids, eight-year-old Courtney Stevenson sent a message in a bottle out to sea. Unbelievably she got a response back…and it only took 21 years. And about 11-hours, but more on that in minute.

Stevenson threw the bottle out from Shelley Beach, in Picton, New Zealand in March 1995 complete with her name, address, and phone number written on the piece of paper inside. Richard Goomes discovered the bottle 21 years later and 515 miles away on the Chatham Islands in New Zealand while out for a walk with his dog.

Goomes and his family tried to contact Stevenson via the number she wrote down but the phone had been disconnected. Then, they took to social media. After 11-and-a-half hours, they were able to find Stevenson. “Courtney was rapt that we found it,” he says. “For me, I’ve finally found a message in a bottle. I spend a lot of time on the beach – I even said to my dog that day ‘I wonder when we’re going to find a message in a bottle.’ And bugger me, there it was.”

Source: Stuff