Odyssey after car breakdown Backpacker wanders alone in the Australian outback for eleven days

Carolina Wilga made her way through the Australian wilderness for eleven days. In her search for help, the German backpacker is said to have followed the course of the sun.

For eleven long days, German backpacker Carolina Wilga roamed the bush in the hope of finding help. This is how the Australian police describe it after the 26-year-old was rescued. During this time, the young woman covered at least 24 kilometers on foot, following the path of the sun.

After breaking down, Wilga spent the first night in her car and then decided to walk west in the belief that she would find a road and help more quickly, says police superintendent Jessica Securo.

On the way, she is said to have drunk rainwater and water from puddles and sometimes spent the night in caves, Australian media reported. According to the police, Wilga was exposed to pouring rain and sub-zero temperatures on the one hand and the strong Australian sun on the other.

Mother calls for a search

Finally, on Friday afternoon, the exhausted backpacker saw Tania Henley's car and was able to get the Australian's attention. "I hugged her. She was very emotional," Henley told the news program "9 News Australia". She offered the 26-year-old an apple and then took her to the next town. "She's resilient," Henley said. You have to have a lot of determination to survive like that, said the Australian.

A mechanical fault in her vehicle caused Wilga's car to leave the road and get stuck in the Australian bush, police said.

Her phone was also switched off - which added to her worries because she had previously contacted her family, who live in Castrop-Rauxel in North Rhine-Westphalia, on a regular basis. Wilga's mother had called on social networks to support the police's search for her daughter.

"We never gave up hope"

Dehydrated, exhausted and hungry, the 26-year-old was flown to the regional capital Perth, where she has been receiving medical treatment ever since. But Wilga got off relatively lightly: According to police, she suffered minor injuries such as sunburn, numerous insect bites, bruises, cuts and a foot injury.

Policewoman Securo told a press conference that Wilga had told her that she loved Australia. Among other things, she wanted to travel the east coast of the country if she could.

Wilga is also receiving "emotional support" to help her come to terms with the events of the past few weeks, Securo said. The policewoman emphasized that it is important to stay in the vehicle in the event of a breakdown, as it is easier for emergency services to locate a car than a person.

It is a challenge to survive in the Western Australian terrain if you don't know where you are going and what you need to do, Securo said. Police in the region had been searching for Wilga for days. "We never gave up hope," said Securo.

Emergency radios for traveling to remote areas

For the Australian public and authorities, Wilga's rescue is tantamount to a miracle. "Everyone should be aware that this is an example of how dangerous our bushland and outback can be," Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said on Sunday.

"And anyone traveling to Western Australia should always keep this in mind. If you are planning extended travel to the Western Australia region, please take the necessary precautions," Cook said. Emergency radios are especially important when traveling to remote areas without cell phone reception.

Wilga, who had been traveling around Australia for two years, was last seen in Beacon on June 29. The town is located in the so-called Western Australian Wheatbelt - a sparsely populated region known for its grain cultivation. Since then, her trail was lost until Thursday, when her vehicle was discovered in the wilderness of the vast Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, around 300 kilometers northeast of Perth.