READERS’ RIDES IN FOCUS
THE HEART STARTER
Gold Coast paramedic Harriet Herlt is an off-roading OG—with a pair of his-and-hers D-MAXs in the garage.
NAME: LIVES: DRIVES:
HARRIET HERLT TALLEBUDGERA, QLD 2017 D-MAX 4X4 LS-M
You’re half of a husband-and-wife pair of D-MAX drivers. Who got theirs first? Me! I’ve always loved camping and four-wheel driving on the beach. I actually got my D-MAX a few months before I even met my husband because, you know, being an independent female I didn’t need a man to take me four-wheel driving, haha! He was actually driving a little midsize sedan back then. It was so good when we got together because there was a lot of heckling: me in the manly ute and him in his cute little car. I’m quite a girly girl and I do love my high heels. And I’m a petite lady, so it was very funny climbing out of my big D-MAX in high heels and him prying himself out of his poky lil’ sedan.
What do you love about off-roading? I just love the freedom of it. It’s really the only place that I ever really feel completely disconnected and switched off—when you’re four-wheel driving on the beach with the wind in your hair, making tracks in the sand. It’s my idea of heaven. Where is this beach photo taken? Some of my girlfriends had never been four-wheel driving, so I took them to Stradbroke for the weekend, and now at least two of them are looking at buying 4WDs. My D-MAX—I call her Suzy—has never gotten bogged, never required any of the recovery gear that I’ve got. I’ve had to pull a few mates out, though. Now your husband has a D-MAX, too. Do you go off-roading in separate vehicles? No, he’s only got a two-wheel drive ute! It’s a 2021 D-MAX 4x2 SX. He tried to one-up me for manliness and went for the full tradie version: metal tray, ladder rack, tradie boxes. Because now he feels like he can legitimately go through the tradie entrance at Bunnings and not be shamed by his Toyota Aurion. So… tradie cosplay. Exactly! He reckons he has some street cred now. He puts our border collie in the back and goes to the hardware store. It’s all entirely make-believe. He wishes he was a tradie, but we’re both paramedics. As paramedics during COVID you must’ve had a stressful few years. Absolutely. That’s why it’s great to get out there and switch off. Every day now the new normal as a paramedic in Queensland
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MAX*D GO YOUR OWN WAY
is to do 14 hours with no break. It’s a whole different ball game since COVID began. Have you ever been called on to use your paramedic superhero skills off duty? Yes, a couple of times. Once I was on holidays in Perth and I was with my sister-in-law, who is also a paramedic. We were first on the scene at a mini bus accident, full of tourists with critical injuries. We worked on them on the side of the road until the helicopters arrived. Wait, your sister-in-law is an ambo too? How incestuous is your industry? Very! We just gravitate towards each other. Actually, the group I tend to go four-wheel driving with are all health professionals— nurses and paramedics and physios. You understand what each other goes through. If I have a heart attack on K’gari I hope your convoy comes along. Yep. You’d be very unlucky if there wasn’t someone who could get you going again.
