Easter in St Ives, Cornwall

Here's our photo album from Easter weekend in the pretty town of St Ives. You'd never guess these pictures were from England, but it's not all rainy and overcast here! In fact, the SW region of Cornwall is very much like coastal Australia (though colder) where there are stunning, sandy beaches with good waves and little English towns filled with surf shops. We had a wonderful and relaxing time over Easter.

St Ives

Abode B&B. Amazing B&B with the best breakfasts and most wonderful hosts Simon and Anna. Hoping we'll be back again! Here's our review on Tripadvisor

Abode B&B. Here's the dining room where we had breakfast each morning. The contemporary interiors carry on into the spacious rooms too

Recommended by Simon, the Balancing Eel has the best fish and chips in town

We ventured out of town to Hayle (en route to the beach) where there's a line out the door for Philp Bakery pasties. Apparently he sells 3,000 of these a day (if I remember Simon and Anna correctly). We had to stop and get one each, even if it was about an hour after a big breakfast

We did walk it off 6 miles later along this beach. We made it to the Godrevey Lighthouse and the peninsula

You can do the coastal walk among the grass...

Or walk along the expansive and empty beach, which made us feel a million miles from the City of London

The lighthouse is just coming into view. The peninsula too

At the peninsula there's a colony of seals, wonderful little cafe and a taxi ride back to St Ives

Almost everything in Cornwall is sourced locally from Cornwall. Including all the wares in the only vintage store in St Ives

Cornwall is not just famous for sandy beaches, surf and pasties, but also scones and clotted cream

And seafood. Best in town can be found at the chic Saltwater Restaurant

This is what Simon and Anna snuck into our room while we were out. Happy (very belated) Easter!

UK General Election 2010

It has been a dynamic 5 days since most Britons (voting is not compulsory here) went to the polls (6 May) to vote for a Prime Minister and political party. The result the following day was a 'hung' parliament where neither party had a majority.

In 2007, when I moved to the UK, almost to the day, Gordon Brown took over Tony Blair as the leader of the Labour Party. Labour has ruled here for 13 years and tonight's events brought that to an end with the announcement of David Cameron as the new British Prime Minister.

A screen grab of the coverage of the General Election 2010 by the BBC

Our experience here in London has been a very interesting one. If it was not enough that the result of the election was a 'hung' parliament, we have seen daily, a country divided over who should lead. For example, my Twitter feed has mostly lamented the Conservatives (Tories). But tonight, in a cosy wine bar on Fleet Street in the City, a sudden hush came over the room. The TV behind the bar was turned up and Gordon Brown was resigning as British Prime Minister. The patrons in the bar cheered, obviously Tory supporters. Looking at Twitter on my phone, there were many sad tweets to see Brown go. This is one small example of mostly what it's been like here during the election.

So it's been a really fascinating time these past few weeks, especially being so close to the action right here in London. We have watched (thanks to the awesome coverage by the BBC) the lead up to the election (including the country's first ever Leaders Debates. We have been doing them in Oz for ages), the uncertainty that hung over the country for 5 days after, and the big news tonight of Brown's resignation and Cameron's inauguration. After weeks and weeks of campaigning and uncertainty, it's been nothing short of fascinating to watch the situation of a single nation shift in just two hours. I have no doubt that many of us will be waking up tomorrow, feeling a little bit different from today.