When Mark Burton and his mate dropped a message in a bottle into the ocean 25 years ago, he didn't expect to ever see it again.
Mr Burton dropped the bottle into the ocean in 1996, so when the former resident of King Island, in Bass Strait, got some messages from his sister and mum showing him a photo of the bottle shared on social media he was more than a little surprised.
"It's one of those things you do as a kid, and you don't think anything will come of it," Mr Burton said. "It's really amazing how it's all come about."
The bottle was discovered by current King Islander Marty Monson, who immediately hopped onto the King Island community noticeboard to share his discovery.
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However, he couldn't believe it when he actually found the man he'd been searching for.
"There were a couple of numbers on the message but being so old we couldn't get through to it," he said. "Then out of the blue the actual guy sent me a message.
"I just couldn't believe how long it had been floating around for."
Mr Monson said he had just one critique for the bottle - the lack of treasure map.