Back in 2000, I was flying a 402 out of Katherine. The company also had a base at Timber, 300kms to the west along a sealed but remote road. There was some flying to help out with over there, so I had planned to drive over on the Friday night, fly on sat and sun and head back to Katherine.
A fair bit of night driving, so I wanted someone to come along for the company. A mate was running the backpackers in Katherine, so he'd agreed to find me someone who could keep me company in return for a free flight over the Bungles and some camel spotting etc. that was tasked.
I arrived at the backpackers to be introduced to Amanda, a cute English lass with a gorgeous accent. Into the old 4wd we climbed (FJ40
) and head off out of town at dusk. Amanda was telling me that she'd arrived in Darwin that morning, her first trip to Australia and was really wanting to see wildlife - and she really wanted to see a Kangaroo in the wild.
"No worries, we'll see some for sure!" I replied.
Thirty seconds later out of the 6 foot grass near the road verge... bounce bounce ... kerrrrthump! One dead roo. No damage to the cruiser with the huge bullbar though.
We killed five that night, even though we spent most of the time driving at 60-70km/h as there were literally thousands on the roadside verge. Needless to say, there went my changes in a puff of roo fur and blood
Funnily enough, two nights later on the way home there was not a roo to be seen!