New Zealand seen by satellite

The 7th Rugby Union World Cup is being hosted by New Zealand from 9 September to 23 October 2011.

To mark the occasion, Astrium Services presents the island nation’s rugged landscapes viewed by the SPOT 5 satellite.

Eighty per cent of the flora is endemic in a country covered chiefly by forests and ferns. One of these ferns, Cyathea dealbata, a tree fern that grows to a height of 10 metres, is the silver fern depicted on the black jersey of the All Blacks, New Zealand’s famous national rugby team.