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Our travellers, Yendys, Hobart and Mr. S. have been sailing the seas for eight days now. Their first stop was to be at Enderby Island, a magical place where the albatross nest on the plateau and teach their babies to soar on the wind.

Below them in the red-flowered Rata forests, parakeets dive through the mosses and tangled wood. A fern-lined creek where baby seals learn to swim without the current, runs to the sea through an open field, spongelike in depth, it makes everyone walk like they are on the moon.  Small watery grottos carved from the bases of volcanic columns sway with the weight of heavy kelp. Occasionally a Hooker sea lion emerges, but the yellow-eyed penguin keeps its distance.
Sometimes obscured by a frosty smoke rising from the ocean’s surface, Perserverance Harbour is a safe entry to Campbell Island, the second of New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands that our travellers have visited.  Its sides tower above the ship.  Sea lions come out to greet the vessel and follow those who go to shore.  Steep paths wind up sculptured valleys, high into the realm of the albatross. Grasslands of tussock rise between the mega herbs and ferns.  From here the ship leaves to navigate through the Great Southern Ocean and on to Antarctica.

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This arrived today from ‘Yendys Notlaw’. The mystery of Sydney and his lookalike in the other upside-down world (or is it a back-to-front world?) is getting deeper…

Dear Coral

In our world we think it is very funny that you have someone that looks like me.  

From the photographs I have seen he does look a little older than me, and not so well kept.

My secret to looking so young and clean is that I eat lots of green vegetables, and always wash and do my teeth every night and morning.
 
One of the things I would really like to do while I am on a visit to your world is to go down to Antarctica and see where Sydney has been having all his wonderful adventures.

I did hear from a friend that you will be going back down to the ice in a few months’ time. Could I please come with you?

I will be no trouble and still have time to get all the right gear and pack my case. Please say “yes”.

Another letter arrived from a long way away. Inside there were two photos of the look-alike Sydney and Hobart the Penguin (remember the fridge photos?).

Apparently I’m to understand that there is a parallel world, where either a member of Sydney’s family survives, or it is a mirror image (just changed a little) of Sydney… and his name is Yendys.  

He even has his own email address.  I will write and see what is happening.  Keep you posted soon.  

A recent ad in a local newspaper about the damage being done to Tasmania’s forests alerted us to the fact that there may be other Sydneys out there, or at least his relatives.

With some research we found the little girl in this photo (now a grown woman) and we have kindly been given permission by photographer Peter Motton to bring you this picture of Wendy and She She in a typical Tasmanian landscape.

It shows a young Wendy Robertson with her much loved toy, She She, looking very much like Sydney. Below is a photo of She She today.

Wendy and I believe that She She is Sydney’s close relative, as they are not the same, but have similar qualities. See what you think.

Wendy wrote me a gorgeous letter where she explains that She She told her that Sydney and her were friends back in Toy Kingdom, where they were created, that he had plans then to travel the world and raise money for charity, and that she would try to contact him through the teddy channels.

Do you know any of Sydney’s relatives? Please let us know.

Welcome to this new site, although it’s just in its infancy. I’m happy to say, (with the help of two good friends), at last it’s here. It will contain some of the normal things you’d expect, information on my most recent publications, a biography etc, and now has my first eBook, The Journey.

The last few years have been a little tragic for myself and for my family, with the loss of dear old Sydney, left behind in the Antarctic.

Although the story of Sydney can now be read in the picture book Sydney Of The Antarctic, for some time I only had the story up to when I left him behind. As I travelled around to schools, many children and teachers wrote and drew stories of their ideas of what has happened to Sydney. This one is from Rachel at Crystal Lake School in Illinois.

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