After living in NZ for a while, my ear became used to the NZ accents and when I heard an American speak it was startling. The sound of an American amidst New Zealanders sounds incredibly flat and monotone. This is because the NZ accent has a very different rythmn and tends to have lots of ups and downs. Many times a statement sounds like a question. Americans just sounded like they were on a different frequency. Kind of like the difference between a low, constant hum and someone asking a bunch of questions. Does that make any sense??