29-year-old message in a bottle – ‘don’t litter’
A REGULAR day out on the beach turned into an experience like something from a mystery-adventure novel when the Bezuidenhout family stumbled across a 29-year-old message in a bottle.
“It was quite a surprise when I realised what it was because you don’t see things like this these days,” said Richard’s Bay resident Willem Bezuidenhout.
He and his wife, Nicolene, and their children, Quian, 11, and 6-year-old Zara went to Richard’s Bay Beach a few weeks ago. They were preparing to spend the day there and did what they always do – pick up discarded bottles so the children won’t get hurt.
“That was when I came across the message in a bottle. I kept if for a while because I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I also searched the name in the letter on Facebook, trying to locate the owner. Eventually I put it on my Facebook page,” said Bezuidenhout.
After the post was shared a few times, the bottle’s owner was tracked “Down Under” to Australia.
“I was very surprised to find her. I kept wondering where she could be,” he chuckled.
The message writer, Phillipa le Roux, is a former South African who now lives in Sydney. She was tagged in Bezuidenhout’s post. In an e-mail chat with The Daily News, Le Roux said she was 10 when she sent that message into the ocean.
In the letter she said she had blonde hair and blue eyes, and that she was 1.39m tall.
She said she “loves riding horses and wildlife”, and asked the finder of the bottle to please write back to her.
“I can’t recall exactly from where I sent it, but I think it was at Salt Rock as we often went there on holiday,” said the former Greytown resident.
She said she probably had ideas of it going overseas and being picked up in a foreign land, “like all the adventure stories of messages in a bottle from deserted islands”.
She said she had completely forgotten what she had done as a child and that it was a surprise to find that the bottle had been found.
“My husband and I have just moved to Sydney. Most of my family still live in the Natal Midlands and my parents and brother still farm in Greytown. My folks still have the same postal address that I wrote on the letter,” she said.
“Funnily enough, not much has changed from my 10-year-old description of myself in the letter, besides my height. I have toned down the use of highlighter pens in my architectural drawings,” she joked. “I still love riding – now mountain bikes rather than horses – and wildlife.”
Le Roux has used the publicity her message has received to highlight the importance of not throwing anything into the ocean. “I have a passion for sustainable design and wildlife conservation. Last October, we had a lovely holiday in Mozambique, but spent a lot of time picking up litter that had washed on to the beaches. I really appreciate Willem picking up this piece of litter.”