"she was on her way within a couple of days"

That is the real life, a good breakdown is only a few days delay... I totally agree with the 26 in wheels, my new bike is Rohloff and 26in, though how long it will be till I get around to it... I have the expensive parts. In fact, funny story, getting the spokes for this baby was an international custom order from Canada. I`ve been waiting a year. Long story.

Presuming you don`t want a Gordon Custom, their nice stock bike frame is 700c... For reasonable bucks, you could get a Thorn, they make derailleur bike frames also. Shipping to US or Canada is reasonable, so maybe OZ wouldn`t be too bad. Also, they will send stuff anywhere in the world to bail out a bro on one of their bikes. Surly is a pretend touring company in comparison.

I would recommend reading all of Nancy SVs posts on gear from her version of the americas trip. She has been through some interesting equipment challenges. It is interesting the problems long term tourists get into, it is a different world from the few weeks or months folks.

http://www.bikeforums.net/search.php?searchid=945593