Message-in-a-bottle: Townsville hikers contact authors in San Francisco Bay Area

Hikers who found a message-in-a-bottle washed up on the Townsville coast have made contact with the shocked authors in San Francisco.

San Francisco Bay Area Savannah, then aged 11, photographed setting the message-in-a-bottle adrift on the final day of a family holiday at the Navini Island Resort in Fiji in 2016. The bottle was discovered washed ashore in Townsville, North Queensland, eight years later on Friday. Picture: Supplied

Hikers who found a message-in-a-bottle washed up on the Townsville coast have made contact with the shocked authors in San Francisco and revealed a “crazy” new twist in an already improbable international story.

Townsville Hike and Explore president Sandra Lamari and group member Susie Bidgood confirmed on Thursday that they had been in contact with Savannah since Monday morning, a day after an article about the discovery appeared online in the Townsville Bulletin.

Savannah, now 18, along with Kate and Janice set the message adrift during a family holiday at the Navini Island Resort in Fiji eight years ago before it washed up in the mangroves at Chunda Bay near the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences in Townsville.

Ms Bidgood, who was with a group of about 20 who discovered the message on Friday, said Savannah was 11 when the note was written with the help of close family friend Kate, who was 19 at the time, and auntie Janice, who is older.

“They are shocked that it was discovered; they had high hopes that it was going to be found but didn’t really expect it to be.”

San Francisco Bay Area Savannah, then aged 11, photographed setting the message-in-a-bottle adrift on the final day of a family holiday at the Navini Island Resort in Fiji in 2016. The bottle was discovered washed ashore in Townsville, North Queensland, eight years later on Friday. Picture: Supplied

All three women still live in the San Francisco Bay Area more than 11,300 kilometres from Townsville in North Queensland.

The story has made headlines in the United States, with Ms Lamari and Ms Bidgood being interviewed by the television stations CBS and NBC, with a third station attempting to get everyone together for an interview at the same time.

“Townsville Hike and Explore is going global,” Ms Lamari joked.

“It’s really exciting, I can’t believe it.”

Incredibly, Savannah was photographed setting the bottle adrift on the final day of her holiday in 2016.

Originally published as Message-in-a-bottle: Townsville hikers contact authors in San Francisco Bay Area