A German backpacker who spent 11 days lost in the harsh Australian wilderness has opened up about the hallucinations she believes pulled her even deeper into the Outback.
Carolina Wilga, 27, lost 12kg while wandering through remote bushland after vanishing on June 29, 2025, near Beacon, about 300km north-east of Perth. Her ordeal began after she sustained a head injury in a crash.
Nearly two weeks later, a local station owner discovered her disoriented and unsteady after she emerged onto a dirt road.
Speaking in her first sit-down interview more than a year after the incident, Ms Wilga recalled hearing strange sounds in the aftermath of the crash — noises she says pushed her further into the remote terrain.
‘(It was) kind of like an alarm for me and I felt like I (had) to wake up,’ she told 7News Spotlight on Friday.
‘I’m sleeping. It was my alarm, like, “Get up out of your bed”. So I started walking but I didn’t know what I was doing.’
Ms Wilga left her car without shoes, food or water and spent the successive days drinking water from puddles and sleeping in a cave.
She said thoughts of her family gave her the strength to survive, adding: ‘I made my mum a promise that I will walk until I die, that I will not give up, I want to live.’
German backpacker Carolina Wilga, who survived almost 12 days lost in the Australian wilderness, has described the hallucinations she experienced while stranded in bushland
Ms Wilga was found by local farmer Tania Henley about 24km from her abandoned vehicle
Ms Wilga became dazed and confused after suffering a head injury in a crash and wandered away from her vehicle
Police launched a search by land and air for the missing backpacker after friends and family reported her disappearance.
During the search, authorities found her abandoned van in the Karroun Hill area, about 50km north-east of Beacon, where Ms Wilga was last seen.
She had become confused after hitting her head in a crash and wandered away from the vehicle.
Local farmer Tania Henley found Ms Wilga about 24km from her van and the pair were reunited during this week’s interview.
Ms Henley said she briefly crossed paths with Ms Wilga at Mount Churchman, a remote landmark on private property, just 24 hours before the backpacker was rescued.
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‘I went there the day before and could only get about three-quarters of the way because the water had washed out the track, but I was looking for your tyre tracks,’ Ms Henley told the young woman.
Ms Wilga replied: ‘Thank you very, very much, Tania… you were such an angel.
‘It was not only that you took me to the police, (but) how you talked to me and how kind you were. This is not that common, so thank you for this. And I have your hoodie still.’
Ms Henley said she had encountered Ms Wilga at Mount Churchman only 24 hours before her rescue
Police launched a land and air search for the missing backpacker after friends and family reported her disappearance
Ms Wilga has since written a book about her ordeal and says she plans to return to Australia
The young woman suffered cuts, bruises, dehydration and exhaustion during her ordeal in the bush, where overnight temperatures dropped to almost freezing.
When Ms Henley found her, Ms Wilga was walking barefoot on an unsealed access road.
At the time, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said Ms Wilga’s survival was remarkable given the length of time she had spent in the wilderness.
‘That’s not something you would ordinarily expect, particularly in regional WA,’ Mr Blanch told 6PR radio.
‘To meet Tania on the road, just at that moment, (was) extraordinary luck.’
The young backpacker now plans to return to Australia and visit Bimbijy Station to see Ms Henley again.
Ms Henley said she was simply doing what she believed most Australians would do and that she expected their ‘paths will cross again’.
‘To me, it’s the Australian way. You help when people need help. That’s how it should be really,’ the farmer said.
Ms Wilga has since written a book about her experience, Escaping the Outback: My Fight for Survival in the Australian Wilderness.