23 OCTOBER 2016 • 2:42PM
The Australian postal service has apologised for delivering a letter half a century after it was sent from an island in the South Pacific.
A couple from Adelaide found the faded postcard, from the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, resting on their doorstep under a gas bill.
It bore a postmark of 1966 and was addressed to one "Robert Giorgio," according to the Adelaide Advertiser.
The postcard, which was written by someone named "Chris," reads: "[I am] enjoying myself greatly. The weather is very humid ... I’ll try and drop you a note in England.”
Its stamp cost 13 francs, or around nine pence, and is understood to have been sent to the original owner of the house, whose whereabouts are unknown.
“It took a while to realise it was an old one,” said Tim Duffy, who bought the house 18 months ago with his wife, Claire, and believes it was built by an Italian man in 1963. "Then I checked the post date and it’s 1966.”
In all fairness, postcards do usually take a little longer to reach their destination.
