Stallie
I can't believe you actually managed to entice a woman into
that old Tojo!
Guptar
I've driven the Stuart Hwy, both ways, more times than I can remember. The only section I'll drive at night is Katherine to Darwin and vice versa. For the rest, too many cattle & roos, the occasional camel or donkey, and as ITCZ said, at this time of year, washouts and water over the road. The one time I didn't follow this
rule was when I couldn't sleep one night in Alice, and thought if I'm going to toss & turn in bed I might as well drive.
At only 80kph I couldn't avoid the roo that hopped onto the road and despite hard braking he kept on pounding - straight into the side of my Patrol. In something like 600,000km this was my first encounter with a roo and set the insurance co back about $4000.00 and took many, many, many trips to the crash repair people (and I use that term loosely) to get right.
Drive by day and enjoy the fascinating scenery, giving you a better chance of avoiding the livestock, and surviving the drive.
ps, as an aside to you and others that mightn't have driven these sort of long distances on outback roads, a couple of years ago a friend of a friend hitched a ride down south from Katherine. She was a medical doctor. The two occupants of the car were having a great old natter when the car moved off the road onto the gravel shoulder.
Instinctively the driver pulled right on the steering wheel to regain the road, rolled the Tojo, and the doctor died.
These sort of accidents, as well as swerving to avoid livestock/birds are too common and the results can be tragic.
Drive safely.