Alex Hallatt 5/1/20 Alex Hallatt 5/1/20

Living in New Zealand: (Self) Preservation - Kefir and Poached Pears

I’ve been self-medicating my anxiety during lockdown by eating a lot of chocolate and drinking too much wine. At the end of four weeks, I started to get my act together and now only have a lot of chocolate and wine at the weekend.

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I’ve been using the extra time in lockdown to preserve our home grown produce (fermenting rhubarb kombucha, poaching pears and drying chillies). But I won’t be adding kefir to my fermentation roster, no matter how good it is for me.

Until I wrote this up, I had no idea how to spell (or say) cardamom.

Alex Hallatt 4/28/20 Alex Hallatt 4/28/20

Arctic Circle's Frank and Oscar Send a Virtual Hug

Today we move from Level 4 to Level 3 lockdown in New Zealand. Which is still socially-isolating.

So I'm sending a virtual hug to my friends and far-flung family.

Alex Hallatt 4/27/20 Alex Hallatt 4/27/20

Living in New Zealand: Governors Bay and its Historic Jetty

Near the head of Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupo, lies the small settlement of Governors Bay. We use to walk our dogs down by the shoreline and I loved walking to the end of the ridiculously long jetty. But that was a long time ago and the jetty has seen better days. It was falling into disrepair even before the earthquake of 2011, but that finished it off.

A lot of people around here love the jetty and don’t want it to disappear. A campaign was launched and ownership of the historic structure passed into the hands of the local community. If you want to see photos of this beautiful structure and/or ensure that the Covid 19 pandemic doesn't divert the funds needed to conserve this unique piece of history, head to the Save the Jetty website.

Alex Hallatt 4/22/20 Alex Hallatt 4/22/20

Arctic Circle Cartoons for Earth Day (It's Nearly as Old as Me!)

Oscar may have changed since I drew this over 10 years ago, but the message hasn’t.

April 22nd 2020 marks Earth Day’s 50th anniversary.

To celebrate that, I created Arctic Circle cartoons on how YOU can change the world. For the better.

A few things have happened since I wrote these strips, but the Covid-19 pandemic shows us that where there is a will, there is a way. And now more people than ever will have the tools at their disposal to make the world a better place.