I was wondering who out there has truly adopted the so-called Kiwi Twang and whether it was nore difficult to pick up if you are from the UK or the US. I ask because picking up the accent was priority one for me when I went to NZ. I spent some time watching TVNZ online before leaving so I had an idea of the accent. My accent was never flawless, but it was good enough that people only picked up on mistakes if they knew I was American and sat there listening for any inaccuracies, usually they would tell me some pronunciation sounded too Aussie once and a while.
Other Americans I knew tried to pick up the accent but all failed miserably. Perhaps it was easier for me because I am from Boston, a city with an accent closer to the British accent. We drop our 'R' and use a broad 'A' and use the term rubbish instead of trash and elastic rather than rubber band.
Anyway tell me if you have had any success or failure with the accent and if you think it is more advantageous to keep your native accent or develop the local one.