After eleven nights missing in the Australian Outback in WA and many fearing the absolute worst, what a relief it was to learn that German backpacker Carolina Wilga had been found safe on Friday night.
Rarely does such a story end like this. And when it does, we can only imagine the resilience it’s taken from the individual involved, as well as never-ending efforts from the community that unites in their support for the search.
Wilga’s family and friends had raised the alarm to police after she had last been seen and heard from on 29 June, visiting a shop in the small town of Beacon, 300km north-east of Perth. Her Mitsubishi van was later found abandoned and bogged around 150km from Beacon in Karroun Hill. She reportedly stayed with the van for a day before trying to get help and getting lost in the dense and challenging bushland.
Wilga managed to flag down a woman in a passing car around 4:20pm on Friday to end the ordeal, following 11 nights in freezing conditions with minimal food, a cave for shelter and water drunk from puddles.
She was found by “sheer luck” according to authorities, but her survival also comes down to her resilience, as well as the resilience and hope of the local community in Western Australia that supported in finding Wilga.
She was “safe and well” according to police, but hungry, exhausted, dehydrated and sunburnt. She had been “ravaged by mosquitoes” and suffered some minor injuries, including cuts and bruises. She survived near-freezing nights and heavy rain during her ordeal.
The woman who found her, Tania Henley, is a local farmer and said she immediately knew who was waving at her on the side of the road. “She was in a fragile state, but she was well,” she told the ABC. “Thin, but well. She’d been bitten by a lot of midges. She said it was very, very cold.”
She said that it could have been days before someone else drove down that road.
“Miracle is a word that gets bandied about a lot, but to survive 12 days and cross-country, she went cross-country to come to my road.”
Henley, who picked up Wilga around 40 kilometres from her homestead, noted how challenging the conditions would be, especially in noting that Wilga was wearing no shoes.
“She’s a very resilient person,” she said.
WA Police Acting Inspector Jessica Securo said on Wilga’ that “she’s still in disbelief that she was able to survive.”
“In her mind, she had convinced herself she was not going to be located. Eleven days out there is significant.”
And after all of it, Wilga has revealed she “loves Australia” and will keep on travelling, according to Acting Inspector Securo. The East Coast is on her bucket list and she is expected to stay and continue, if she can. She is currently “taking it one day at a time.”