They’ve gone rock climbing on mountains overlooking Australian fields, bungee jumped in New Zealand and mingled with the natives Down Under.
Step aside, Road Rules cast, and make room for students who have experienced the Pacific Challenge.
Offered every winter term for the past 12 years, the national Pacific Challenge program gives students the opportunity to earn upper-division credit while exploring Australia and New Zealand for eight weeks.
Four groups of 18 students, which leave three days apart from each other, travel through the countryside with local guides, not staying in one area for more than three days. The journey gives individuals the chance to partake in outdoor activities that include whitewater rafting, backpacking, scuba diving, kayaking, surfing, skydiving and mountain biking.
Program Director Dave Wright began the program in 1987 as a part of a research project to finish his graduate studies for the school of education at the University. He gathered a small group of students to accompany him, and when student interest grew, he officially began the Pacific Challenge program, which now has four groups to accommodate every student who wants to go. Wright said for most students, the trip is a life-changing experience where they learn about the environment, themselves and other cultures.
Karen Kanes, a junior journalism major, participated in the program last year and said she went because of her love for the outdoors and traveling.
“It was like a dream come true,” she said.
One of the most thrilling parts of the trip for the participants was bungee jumping from the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, the first commercial bungee-jumping site in the world. The bridge is 43 meters above the Kawarau River.
Alex Hughes, a senior journalism major who also completed the Pacific Challenge last winter, was one of the students who did the jump and had only two words to describe it: “just crazy.”
Although most pursuits are organized by the program, students also have the chance to travel independently in smaller groups so they can meet the people of the countries and create their own adventures.
Kanes and a couple of other students met three New Zealanders during free time away from the group and decided to go cliff jumping on their own. This proved to be one of Kanes’ most risky ventures because of the danger of getting washed against the rocks.
Rachel Sanson, a Pacific Challenge trip leader, said a sense of accomplishment is a common attitude among returning students.
“For some people this is a turning point in their lives, because they realize how strong they are as individuals,” she said. “They learn the extent to which they can challenge themselves.”
Hughes added that the trip also helped participants form unique bonds and friendships.
“Being challenged together made us forget about our differences, and that we didn’t all get along in a normal setting,” he said.
Students trade off between staying in hostels and camping. The first camping site is usually the National Marae in Christchurch, New Zealand, a sacred worshipping ground for native tribes.
Members of the group take turns preparing meals throughout the two months. Hughes said he discovered new flavors during his stay in Australia, including the taste of alligator and vegimite, a popular, salty Australian spread. Vegimite packets are more common in Australian McDonald’s restaurants than ketchup.
Students can obtain course credit from the University of Oregon and Minnesota State University through the environmental studies and international studies departments. Coordinators of Pacific Challenge also plan, for the first time, to offer a similar trip that travels through Asia and Nepal in winter 2001. Pacific Challenge will hold an informational meeting about the program at 7 p.m. in Room 238, Gilbert Hall, on Nov. 7.
Hughes said there was only one way to sum up his Pacific Challenge experience.
“[It’s] everything crazy you’ve ever wanted to do in your life, and you get to do it all in two months,” he said.