- A message in a bottle took eight years to journey 19,000km to the coast of Spain
- Julien Joy wrote the note as a seven-year-old before it was tucked into the bottle
- With some help from his mother, the pair tossed it off the coast of Whangarei
- In February the pair received a letter from a German woman Luisa who found it
A message in a bottle written by a seven-year-old boy took eight years to make a 19,000km journey to the coast of Spain.
Julien Joy wrote the note in 2010 before it was placed into a zip-lock bag and tucked inside a wine bottle, with some help from his mother.
The now 15-year-old remembers walking out to Manganese Point and throwing the bottle into the Whangarei Harbour, off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island.
A message in a bottle written by Julien Joy (right) and his mother (left) took eight years to journey 19,000km to the coast of Spain
In February the pair received a letter (pictured) from a German woman Luisa who found it
Mrs Joy said she told Julien to write his name, address, a bit about the family and a request to write a letter when found.
The doting mother and her son never expected the bottle to travel so far and were shocked receive a letter from a German woman eight years later on February 21.
The woman named called Luisa explained she had discovered their message.
‘Last summer I spent my vacation with my family near Bilbao [in Spain], in the little village Mundaka at the Atlantic ocean coast,’ her letter reads.
‘On a walk at the beach my mom found your message in a bottle covered with sand and seaweed. We opened it and decided to send you a message.’
The pair were delighted to hear from Luisa who explained her sister is a navy officer who works on a ship.
Julien Joy (pictured) wrote the note as a seven-year-old before it was tucked into the bottle
Luisa asked her sibling to release the bottle again back in to the North Sea between France and England with the original note, and another one from Luisa’s family.
‘I hope that your message will be transported with the Gulf Stream maybe up to Africa or maybe even up to South America,’ she wrote.
Mrs Joy has since connected with Luisa on Facebook.
She says it would be ‘really crazy’ if they were to receive another reply but already have seen how anything is possible.