The Black Caps are leaning upon their dramatic last-start Test win in Australia for confidence and motivation ahead of the sides' renewal of hostilities in Brisbane next week.
New Zealand and Australia will meet on the cricket field for the first time since the home side's emphatic win in the World Cup final in March.
The visitors are downplaying their desire for revenge in the three-Test series that begins at the 'Gabba on Thursday week.
However, they are looking back to their last Test tour here four years ago, when they bounced back from a nine-wicket thrashing in Brisbane, to record an epic seven-run win in Hobart.
That is proof, said Black Caps allrounder James Neesham, that the Kiwis can match it with Australia on home soil.
"The core of our team is still together from that game and they will have fond memories of Hobart," Neesham said.
"Obviously we don't play a Test there this summer but it is reassuring for the mind that you do have recent success over here."
Only five Australians will remain from that Hobart loss if Peter Siddle and Usman Khawaja are selected for the first Test in Brisbane.
David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon also played in that upset loss in the Apple Isle.
Only Warner and Lyon have been Test mainstays of the Australian side over the last four years.
However, the Kiwis boast seven players in their touring squad from that match, including most of the team's stars in captain Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee and Trent Boult.
But Neesham wasn't ready to proclaim any favouritism for the visitors ahead of the 'Gabba, Test.
Australia hasn't lost at the venue in 27 years, the last time the national team was undergoing such an upheaval in its playing ranks.
"I think whoever plays in the first Test for Australia they will have played a lot of domestic cricket at the 'Gabba," Neesham said.
"We're quietly confident. We've got a settled unit. Over the last 24 months we've put some good results on the board in Test cricket. We're going to approach this series like every other series in the past couple of years and go about our business and take one day at a time."
The Kiwis will round out their preparation for the series with a three-day match against a CA XI at Blacktown International Sportspark. In contrast Australia's players are involved in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield in day/night fixtures with a pink ball.
Neesham said he believed the Black Caps' would have a better preparation than those in the Baggy Green for the first Test.
"I'd prefer to have it our way," he said.
It's important to get practice in the conditions that are most similar to the conditions we will be playing in."
