"Kiwi birds don't fly - they cycle, for 20 months, alone, on a cheap mountain bike, through dangerous countries just to get back home ... from London."
The quote was posted on Kylie Phaup-Stephens' Face Book wall by a friend part-way through an epic return from her OE which has seen her fend off men trying to break into her tent in Iran, eat out of rubbish bins and stay with the New Zealand Army in Afghanistan.
If she ever writes a book about it, she has the title sorted.
Riding her 18-speed mountain bike, which she nicknamed "Tankini" because "it's a tank", loaded with 80kg of gear and with just $US5.50 ($NZ7.45) a day to spend, she trained her stomach to survive on just one meal a day.
She slept on boats with cockroaches and rats crawling over her and went to sleep - and woke up - with foreign men leering at her.
She ate camel, dog and rat and found her way by asking people directions.
"If I came across people who were really nice and wanted me to stay, I would.
"The only thing pushing me for time were my visas."
She cycled - alone - through Iran, Albania, Kosovo and camped at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli.
But the 36-year-old from Christchurch said her most terrifying moments were in Iran, when men tried to get into her tent, and in a hotel, where the manager locked himself in a shower with her.
But, despite the bad experiences, Ms Phaup-Stephens says she has seen the best of human nature.
"So many families just took me in and fed me and just wanted to talk to me.
"There were so many other good things that happened as well.
"There's far more good people in the world than there are bad."
Seven months in, and by then feeling very isolated and homesick, she made it to the New Zealand Army base in Afghanistan, where she had Milo and a hot shower and Marmite.
"I rocked up to the New Zealand Army base and the guys were like, `What the hell are you doing here?' "I can't tell you how good it was just to see other New Zealanders.
"It was the highlight of my trip."
On her way to extend her visa at the Indian embassy in Kabul, she walked past blood-spattered walls, the result of a suicide bombing that had killed about 19 people days earlier.
But it was not until she was cycling through China that she wondered if she had made a mistake and considered flying home.
It was "tough and hideous" with lots of "smoking and spitting and pollution" and bad roads.
Some days she could only cycle 10km because the clay stuck to her bike's wheels and they would not turn.
She was knocked off her mountain bike three times on her first day in Java, Indonesia, and still she kept going.
"There's nothing you can do but get back on and keep riding."
Ms Phaup-Stephens, who visited 22 countries in her travels, thinks she has crossed about 50,000km of land in addition to the six mostly "skanky" boat rides she had between countries.
If it got tough, she got off and walked.
And, if she was not allowed to cycle through some countries, she would get on a bus or train with her bike.
She arrived in Australia with $87 in the bank and had to talk supermarket staff who were throwing out food into giving it to her free.
"There were a few times in Queensland that I was eating out of rubbish bins."
Since then, she has survived on tinned mackerel and pasta.
While waiting five months in Australia for a boat to bring her back, she cycled from Cape York in Far North Queensland to Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, the southernmost point of the mainland - covering more than 10,000km.
Although she is the fittest and healthiest she has ever felt, it has not been easy.
"I still get a sore bum every day from biking."
The thing she missed most was companionship after going "for hours on end without seeing a soul".
Her journey is not over yet.
She is scheduled to leave Auckland tomorrow - by train - to make the last leg of her trip home to Christchurch.
And her time spent in Afghanistan and East Timor has left her with one more goal - to join the army.
She has completed four of the 10 steps necessary to be accepted.
Like many Kiwis, Ms Phaup-Stephens is typically understated, unaware of how remarkable her achievement is.
"There's nothing special about me.
"I'm just average really.
"I just happened to like travelling and just got on a bike and rode home.
"I'm just an average Kiwi girl. That's all there is.
"I just struggle to think that I've inspired anyone."
Highs and lows
• Two hospital stays - one in Turkey for a bee sting allergy, the second for five days for suspected food poisoning in Pakistan.
• Watched NZ win cricket against Pakistan in Pakistan.
• Staying with the New Zealand Army in Afghanistan.
• Met an Afghani woman who had 30 children.
• Stayed with the New Zealand Police and shared Anzac Day 2010 with the army in East Timor, where she was given Raro, Milo, Weet-bix and Marmite.
