‘If you’re about to read this, bloody DON’T’: Incredible story of how a travel journal found abandoned in an apartment cupboard was reunited with its musician owner decades later
- Melbourne man with the help of viewers have located the owner of a lost journal
- Travel journal was found sitting in top cupboard of a Melbourne apartment
- Journal was dated back to 1999 and included money notes and souvenirs
- The journal will be posted back to Mr Boyle who is in SA in the upcoming week
An Australian man has reunited a long-lost travel journal with its owner decades later.
David Ryan found the dusty old book sitting at the top of a cupboard inside of his Yarraville rental apartment in Melbourne last Monday.
‘If you’re about to read this, blood don’t!’, read the opening cover of the journal.
Mr Ryan shared pictures of the journal in a bid to locate the original owner, sparking interest from internet sleuths desperate to find clues in the scrawled notes.
David Ryan found an old travel journal (pictured) in a cupboard in his Melbourne apartment and took to the internet to find the owner
After a six day search of back and forth messages as well as the help from online viewers, Mr Ryan located the owner, Nick Boyle
Mr Ryan revealed the journal was written mostly in 1999 and 2000 and said it made him feel ‘weirdly free perusing’ its contents.
‘I bet the author would love to relive these memories,’ he added.
The first of the entries was dated from the 15th of March 1999.
After a six-day search, Mr Ryan with the help of online viewers was able to trace the journal back to Nick Boyle, the keyboardist of New Zealand rock band Ziko.
The journal had made numerous references to a man named Kris Baudry, who was the drummer of the Auckland-based band.
The names mentioned in the journal linked it to a band in New Zealand named, Ziko (pictured). Journal owner Nick Boyle is pictured left playing the keyboard
But Mr Ryan struggled to find a way to contact Boyle, whose band had last released an album in 2012 and had little to no social media presence.
Eventually he was able to get in touch with another band member living in Germany through Facebook and was given an email address for Boyle.
‘Is this Nick Boyle? I found an old travel journal which I think may belong to you,’ read Mr Ryan’s email.
‘I searched some names from the journal and came across the band Ziko and one of its members suggested I try this email address.’
Boyle’s priceless reaction made it all worthwhile for hundreds of Reddit users invested in the hunt.
‘Holy heck! That is mine! Where did you find that? That’s amazing! Thanks so much for getting in touch. Where are you and did we ever meet?,’ replied Boyle.
‘I’m in South Australia these days. Let me know where you are.’
Nick Boyle was shocked that his journal was found and apologised that he wasn’t present on social media to help Mr Ryan in his search of him. Pictured: email exchange between David Ryan and Nick Boyle
The journal contained entries from all over Asia including Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
It also included souvenirs of banknotes from his travels and a number of cartoons.
Boyle expressed his gratitude to Mr Ryan and apologised for his lacking social media presence.
‘Thank you so much for all that effort. I hope that was a somewhat intriguing and enjoyable ride for you too.’
Mr Ryan will be posting the journal over to Mr Boyle on Monday.
Mr Ryan will be posting the Mr Boyle’s journal (pictured) who now presides in South Australia in the upcoming week