In the resort, broadcasting live yesterday, presenters Karl Stefanovic - a former roving reporter for TVNZ - Lisa Wilkinson and Georgie Gardener told the Otago Daily Times they had run out of adjectives to describe the Lakes District, being particularly impressed with Milford Sound and Mt Aspiring.
"It was absolutely spectacular," Ms Wilkinson said.
"We ran out of superlatives very early on - we're going to have to go through the thesaurus . . . it was beyond anything we've seen before."
The Today show is one of the key targets of Tourism New Zealand's International Media Programme and the six live crosses to Australia every morning last week, yesterday and today were described as a "real coup" by TNZ.
It broadcasts to more than 800,000 Australians every day with 5.6 million people tuning in over a seven-day period.
It was the first time in four years the show had travelled offshore.
Josie Brennan, of TNZ corporate communications, said the organisation had been putting a lot of effort into the Australian market, with the Government injecting an additional $2.5 million to help continue the marketing momentum through winter.
It was also an innovative idea, which would no doubt be picked up by other tourism organisations, Mr Stefanovic said.
