“She spent one day with the car after it became bogged? and then she moved on from there, so she was essentially out in the wilderness for eleven nights which is significant and just brings us back to how lucky she was that she was located safely and well and how thankful we are that we managed to find her. She basically looked at the direction of the sun and tried to head west, thinking that would be her best bet to come across someone or a road.”That’s Western Australia’s Acting Detective Inspector Jessica Securo at a press conference over the weekend.She detailed just how a 26-year-old German backpacker survived the brutal 12-day ordeal alone in the outback.Carolina Wilga has been discharged from a Perth hospital after surviving nearly two weeks lost in remote Western Australia.She was treated for dehydration and minor injuries – she is safe, walking, and has reunited with loved ones.Detective Inspector Securo says family members in Germany were overwhelmed.”They were in disbelief that a community can come together and just throw every resource at locating their daughter.”From the hospital, Ms Wilga revealed why she abandoned her vehicle: she hit her head after losing control of her van, and strayed from the bogged car in a state of confusion.In a police statement, Ms Wilga also thanked the motorist who found her last Friday, as well as police, searchers and medical staff.Tania was the woman who found her.She told ABC News of the moment she saw Ms Wilga.”I knew it was her straight away. I was coming back from Beacon because I’d been down to pick up my trailer and yeah she was on the side of the road, waving her hand.”Ms Wilga left her hometown of Castrop-Rauxel in Germany with big dreams, to see every corner of this vast country.She’d walked for 11 days – sleeping in a cave, surviving by drinking from rainwater and puddles on the ground.Caro Ryan is the Bush Search and Rescue Deputy Unit Commander at SES New South Wales.She recommends the TREK method for adventure seekers looking to travel in Australia.”Trek acronym, TREK, and it stands for T, which is take everything you need. So that’s going to be your food and your water. Take a little bit extra, you don’t know if you’re going to get delayed. Take a first aid kit, take some warm layers of clothes, take a map and a compass or a good way of navigating – you might have a digital app, something like that. Make sure you’ve definitely then got your battery pack, a power bank for your phone to keep that phone working.”She says a paper map is helpful, and there are good packing lists available online.”Then the R is for register your intention, which is really just a fancy way of saying tell somebody where you’re going. It’s really important. So not only tell someone where you’re going, but get specific. Tell them what track you’re going to do in what area, where you’re going to leave your car, how long you’re going to be, and let them know when you’re back as well.”Ms Ryan says having a personal locator beacon can be a lifesaver.”Then E stands for emergency communications. So you think about these wild places we have all across Australia so many times we don’t have mobile phone coverage, and having a way of communicating if something goes wrong or even just to let someone know you’re running late is essential. So having a PLB, that’s a personal locator beacon, it’s a small device, fits in the palm of your hand. You can either buy them or rent them and they’re absolute lifesavers.”And lastly, familiarise yourself with the intended journey.”Finally we’ve got K, which is know your route and stick to it. So that’s really about planning the trip that’s right for you, for your experience, for the skills that you might have for your level of fitness and making sure you’ve got good information about that track that you’re going to be doing as well. There’s a great system in Australia, we’ve got the Australian walking track grading system, and our tracks all across Australia are graded from one to five, whereas five is really hard.”Sergeant Jim Armstrong is from the WA Police Emergency Operations Unit.He says research and preparation is key – from informing someone that you’re going to choosing the right type of clothing and equipment.”One thing that we recommend is offline mapping. So with most phones that have Google, there’ll be a mapping feature and in the settings there, there’s a thing called offline mapping and what you can do is actually select an area that you’re intending to go to and you won’t need to have phone coverage for your mapping to still function.”And Sergeant Armstrong says people often try to do things they’re not equipped to do.”We often see people attempting to do some serious four-wheel drive off-road adventures in their commuter vehicles, which are just totally unsuitable for the conditions. So it’s important that your vehicle is suitable and it’s also mechanically sound and checked out before you leave. Now with regard to your advanced planning for your trip, have a look at the resources you have and also have a self-rescue plan if something were to go wrong and an idea of what you intend to do.”It’s always recommended to stay with the vehicle but if that isn’t possible, he says, leave a clear trail.”If you reach a point at a track like a fork or you have to make a decision to go left or right, leave a pile of rocks on the track with an arrow with some sticks, just pointing in the direction you’ve gone. It just makes things a lot easier when we’re out searching if we come across something like that, we know which way to keep searching. When you are camped up for the night, consider a small fire. Obviously we don’t want fires to get out of control, but a small fire with the smoke and the heat can be easily spotted by a plane or a helicopter.”Sergeant Armstrong says any reflective device like a mirror can attract attention to your location.
Despite everything she’s been through, WA Police say Ms Wilga still loves Australia and has plans to see the rest of the country, including travelling across to the east coast.