mmg.com.au

Malinda and Jarrod Rankin decided to escape to a tropical paradise for their honeymoon and booked in for 13 nights at Shangri-La Fijian Resort and Spa on the 44 ha private island of Yanuca 45 minutes from Nadi on the Coral Coast of Fiji.

Malinda said the first week they relaxed at the resort, lazing by the pool and beach and even parasailing.

‘‘Although it was daunting at first being towed along, once you were up about 20 m in the air it was a peaceful place to be,’’ Malinda said.

The second week they ventured further afield, taking a ride on the sugar cane train, formerly used to move cane from farms to the port.

Another day they went zip-lining on a flying fox through the rainforest canopy for two-and-a-half hours travelling about 20 m above the ground.

‘‘It was quite scary when you first got onto it,’’ Malinda said.

From Nadi they went on a day cruise, stopping for lunch at the island where Tom Hanks’ movie Castaway was filmed and snorkelling among colourful tropical fish and coral.

Taking a banana boat cruise from the mountains down the river through rapids, they visited a village where Jarrod was chosen to be honorary chief for a day in a special ceremony.

Malinda, who is a teacher at St Francis Primary School in Nathalia was keen to visit one of the Fijian schools and see how they differed from Australian schools.

The schools had no computers and Malinda said they still worked with chalk on boards and paper and pens.

‘‘Seeing the school was a real eye opener for me,’’ Malinda said.

Class sizes were small with only about 10 students in each and she said because most students had to travel a distance along the river, they actually stayed at the primary school during term and returned home in school holidays.

‘‘We couldn’t have picked a better place to go on our honeymoon. The Fijians are so friendly.’