My guess is that the PL, if fitted with wide tires, probably could take a hard dirt or gravel trail.
If I may suggest a dark horse candidate
,
if you plan to do a fair amount of off-road touring, Surly is coming out with the "Traveler's Check." It's their cross/all-rounder bike which has S&S couplers. Rock solid steel frame, bar-end shifters, easy to change the transmission to a triple (or compact double), and BB is pretty high. Frame is $1000, so a full bike would probably run $1600-$2000 depending on the components.
What did you use in NZ, by the way?