Automotive

Exploring the Lausitz mining region: a man-made desert in the heart of Europe by Marcus Hanke Imagine your hotel room is a mere 4.5 square meters large; to climb into bed, you have to either use a ladder, or some artistic capabilities. A shower cabin is t...  

made my late saturday afternoon that much more enjoyable reading your account. Great to know that these denuded and scarred region is being reverted back to nature. Lovely photos to boot. Those angles you showed with these 4 X 4 wagons give me the shivers... 

Actually, several of our Bremach drivers community had their trucks shipped to Australia, and spent unforgettable times there, in spite of heavy rain, which sowmwaht restricted the choice of routes: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_3htXQQ5N-MI/TKgusw03LsI/AAAAAAAADE...  

Many parts including the Kakadu national park are closed during the wet season . Not even 4 X 4 's can get through. It would be good if you can do the Canning Stock Route. Cheers,dreamer

The Hankemobil does it again :-) Best, Filip

:-)

Looks like an unforgettable experience to me. Very nice pics. Thanks. Vte :)

it was indeed a great experience, one, that we are likely to repeat next year. Regards, Marcus

had a lot of fun only from looking at your pictures - gorgeous. Thanks, Marcus! Some days ago we already looked at your post in the UN forum and my son asked me to take some pictures for you. Yes, for you :-) Here we go: Best regards from Max (8). Oliver ...  

... I am really dreaming of something like that ... eh ... ah little bit larger than yours, Max. Anyway, thanks a lot for the cool pics of a cool vehicle, and you staged it perfectly! Oliver, thanks to you for the masterly photography! Regards, Marcus

Marcus, My poor experience of off-road driving being only the Suzuki Jeep (Rhino in UK but a.k.a. Jimmy in USA) notwithstanding, I enjoyed your missive. Mine was mainly for driving to shoots with my green 'wellies', Barbour jackets and tweed flat caps.......  

And she still married you? Regards, Richard.

Yup ! Eventually she did agree to nuptials but that was years later. I don't think the full story was revealed until much later. It happened about the time of mass hysteria ....er...mass media hype about Suzuki Rhinos turning over easily. I did not want h... 

... in sinking condition ... well, you get it. Sorry for my late reply, I had overlooked your comment about the two navigation systems. You know, ever since having seen "Apollo 13", I am a big fan of redundancies, and since I did not wear a chronograph, a... 

...as a long-time subscriber to the French car magazine "Gazoline", features of families taking vintage behemoths similar in many respects to these to all four corners of the Earth (and regularly broke down along the way) has always enthralled me. You fol... 

... which reminds me of an Australian offroad monster truck, bearing the name "What the hell is that", but in some kind of Australian slang truncation which I do not remember and therefore makes it impossible to find the web page. Yes, in Germany old offr... 

...not one you see every day in the U.S. Always liked though they were pretty cool.

He kept a large wallmap of Australia in his office. Every year he would do a 4-6 week trek through inland Australia and chart the trek in texta on his wallmap. That was fascinating to look at and dream about. Places with populations of 5 or less. Places a... 

...originally a copy of a Land Rover, but far more reliable. Would be my off road vehicle of choice. Vintage, of course....

Learned something about the mining area in Germany. First its existence and secondly the environmental costs and social costs that have derived from them. Thank you for documenting your adventure for us! A learning experience for me!

... as well. It was invaluable to get the info on the history and economy of the region, together with the problems caused by the coal mining, and to experience these issues first person. Regards, Marcus

What I find so amazing is their capability given their enormous size. My 4Runner has a very good suspension lift, steel plating on the under carriage, and beefy mud terrain tires. Very sophisticated electronic traction systems and hydraulically controlled... 

most of us came from "normal" 4x4 cars, from Defender, Patrol, Landcruiser, Grand Cherokee, etc. The step to the large vehicle was really difficult for many of us, including myself. Not only the different seating position was responsible for the difficult... 

I imagine it feels quite different driving something so heavy. I looked at the photo of the trucks leaning sideways several times. Pretty sharp angle. Of course, the bulk of the weight remains low on these monsters, but that must take a lot of getting use... 

Difficult o realise that when i blast past Dresden on the A9 from Munich to Berlin, i am close to those landscapes! Thanks for your intersting explanations, i would have wished your post to never end. Btw: when i moved from Spain to Berlin last year (1st ... 

... thanks for your kind comment. I think that the region around Berlin has many interesting landscape to offer, the only thing lacking are nice mountain pass roads ... Regards, Marcus