I am a native New Zealander myself. Coming back to NZ this time I was struck by the difficulty I was having in understanding ordinary speech.
New Zealanders are inclined to drop the fina consonan of wors.
But more confusingly, every vowel sound (with the exception of the eu dipthong – as in duel – and the long a – as in way) collapses into a neutral ‘uh’ sound.
Thus muns yuh und up wuth suntunsus thut sund luk thus.
