Kiwi Jonny Beardmore (back right) has started The Galapagos Postman Challenge in which he will hand deliver 50 letters across the world in the space of one year. He is pictured here Belize with Denise (bottom left) who sent a romantic letter to Steve (left). Photos / Supplied
Kiwi Jonny Beardmore (back right) has started The Galapagos Postman Challenge in which he will hand deliver 50 letters across the world in the space of one year. He is pictured here Belize with Denise (bottom left) who sent a romantic letter to Steve (left). Photos / Supplied
A Kiwi is making headlines for his plan to spend a year travelling the world as a postman for the Galapagos Islands.
Jonny Beardmore says he will spend 365 days and cross seven continents hand-delivering 50 letters.
He’s following in the tradition of sailors and whalers, who, in centuries past, would drop letters in a barrel on Floreana Island in the Galapagos.
They left the letters hoping other sailors would pick them up and post or pass them on to loved ones and the intended recipients.
Post Office Bay has since become a Galapagos attraction with tourists dropping off and picking up letters that they are encouraged to hand deliver.
Beardmore picked up his letters from Post Office Bay earlier this year and has been hand-delivering them since March, with his latest stop to deliver letter number 12 to residents in Nashville in the US, grabbing the attention of a local news channel.
“I get super nervous,” Beardmore told News Channel 5 Nashville in a video posted online, as he knocked on the door of the local home.
“Is anybody going to be home? Are they going to be friendly?”
The postcard was addressed to Nashville toddler Milo. His grandparents dropped it off at Post Office Bay.
The family weren’t home but he enlisted the help of neighbours to try and track down the family. Not long after, Milo returned with his parents Lauren and Dejan.
“That’s amazing,” mum Lauren said as she found out Beardmore had hand-delivered the postcard.
Beardmore explained that after starting in March, he had already been to Antarctica before dropping off letters in South and Central American countries, such as Brazil and Mexico.
On his YouTube, Instagram and Facebook social media pages, Beardmore said he started what he calls The Galapagos Postman Challenge because he loves travelling and wants to meet new people and reconnect.
The primary goal of the trip is to answer the question: Are we living in a disconnected world?
“In a post-Covid world dominated by social media, I’ll explore whether we’re becoming more disconnected from face-to-face relationships,” he writes online.
The adventure is also partly inspired by his father Eric, who battled motor neurone disease (MND/ALS) for eight years before his death in 2022.
Beardmore said he wants to raise money for MND/ALS charities.
Those checking out his social media pages can see short videos showing Beardmore first getting the postcards from the Galapagos and then making stops to deliver them.
Jonny Beardmore making a stop at Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue after delivering postcards to Brazilians. Photo / Supplied
His letter delivery stop-offs have so far included Quito in Ecuador, Mendoza in Argentina, São Paulo in Brazil, Guatemala City in Guatemala, San Pedro in Belize, and Mexico City in Mexico among other destinations.
The deliveries have included postcards sent by friends to friends, from a daughter to her mother and in the case of the Belize postcard, a love letter sent by a woman to a man.
Beardmore can be seen in his YouTube video tracking both the male recipient and female sender of the postcard down during its delivery.
Despite Beardmore drinking cocktails and partying with the couple, they didn’t end up in a romantic relationship.
However, in the spirit of reconnecting people, the pair did stay friends, Beardmore updated followers on Facebook.
“Steve and Denise are now just good friends,” Beardmore wrote.
