Headshot of woman smiling slightly with hair swished to the right side of her face. A lined aerial map graphic imagery surrounds Celine Cremer headed off for what was supposed to be a quick bush walk and was never seen again.(Australian Story)

The wilderness and wildlife of Tasmania had captivated Celine Cremer during her six-month stay, but with so much of Australia yet to see, the Belgian backpacker was on the road again.

She’d loaded her car with camping gear, booked the ferry back to the mainland and planned a route to Darwin where her best friend, Justine Ropet, would fly in from Belgium to meet her.

But after celebrating her 31st birthday, Celine had one week to explore Tasmania before the ferry left so she set off for the wild west coast, arriving in the picturesque town of Waratah on June 17, 2023.

CCTV footage captured Celine wandering about the local servo for a few minutes before walking out the door, bound for Philosopher Falls, a magnificent multi-tier waterfall about 10 kilometres outside Waratah.

Just before 2pm, Celine parked her car here in a small gravel car park at the start of the Philosopher Falls track.

A graphic image showing a slice of forest using satellite imagery. A line from 'Celine Cremer's car' to 'Philosopher Falls' The hike should have taken about an hour, giving Celine ample time to return before dusk.(Australian Story)

The short, 3-kilometre return hike starts with a relatively flat path meandering through towering trees of the Tarkine rainforest.

The track traverses the Arthur River before descending 200 steps into a gorge with a viewing area for the spectacular waterfall.

The walk usually takes an hour, which should have given Celine ample time to make it back to her car before dusk.

There are no witnesses or security cameras in the wilderness to help explain what happened next.

But one theory suggests that, instead of turning left and heading back to her car, Celine went right up this water race. Warning signs have since been added to this track.

A satellite image map of a forest with thin white lines tracing a path. Labelled Philosopher Falls, Water Race, Magnet Dam Much of the walking track to Philosopher Falls is an old water race, built by miners.(Australian Story)

At 3:32pm, Celine’s mobile phone registered a GPS ping here — about a kilometre beyond the Philosopher Falls trail, near Magnet Dam.

A satellite image map of a forest with thin white lines tracing a path. Labelled Philosopher Falls, Water Race, Magnet Dam Celine chose to continue along the abandoned water race and explore further.(Australian Story)

Perhaps Celine visited the falls and decided to explore further.

It’s the first of 45 GPS location fixes registered by her phone over the next 46 minutes. These pings can be recorded when a person opens an app like Google Maps, which uses location services.

The first points appear to show Celine walking to the north along the race, then south, then backtracking again.

For the next 10 minutes, the pings show Celine following the water race back towards the falls and car park.

But at 3:49pm in the fading light of the Tasmanian winter, Celine appears to make a right turn off course.

A satellite image map of a forest with thin white lines tracing a path. A yellow line heads deeper into forest. Instead of following the old water race back to her car, data shows Celine turned off the track and headed uphill.(Australian Story )

The area she’s navigating is dense rainforest with often steep terrain.

At 4:13pm, the GPS data shows Celine nearing the top of a rise headed almost directly towards the Philosopher Falls.

A satellite image map of a forest with thin white lines tracing a path. A yellow line heads deeper into forest. Celine appeared to be heading in the direction of Philosopher Falls and the car park.(Australian Story)

Here she is just 600 metres from the track that would lead her back to the safety of her car.

But one final ping appears to show her moving back in the opposite direction.

That ping is recorded at 4:18pm. Night is closing in. It’s been raining. It’s bitterly cold.

And Celine Cremer is lost.

A young woman with blonde hair and a colourful rainbow singlet and shorts stands at a lookout with ocean bay in background Celine Cremer’s family described her as a “globetrotter”, always looking for her next big adventure.(Supplied)Celine Cremer, 31-year-old woman smiling big wearing a grey beanie and jacket Celine was loving life travelling Australia.(Supplied)A woman with long blonde hair stands on top of a mountain Celine Cremer atop Hobart’s kunanyi/Mount Wellington.(Supplied: Facebook)’Something wasn’t right’

Celine loved to travel. Not just to see the world’s beauty spots and experience different cultures, but to build her confidence.

“Australia represented her biggest travel ever,” childhood friend Justine Ropet tells Australian Story. “She had an adventurous mind but was also not really self-confident and will be scared easily.”

Celine arrived in Australia in June 2022, spending six months in Sydney before heading to Tasmania to work at a restaurant in Coles Bay on the east coast. Justine could tell Celine was “doing better and better and building a lot of self-confidence”.

Justine was so excited about meeting up with Celine in Australia that when she booked her flight to Darwin on June 20, 2023, she called Celine straightaway to share the news.

But she couldn’t reach her friend.

Celine’s mother, Ariane Mathieu, was also unable to contact her. She’d last heard from her daughter on June 16 (Australian time) and had sent a few messages since but received no reply.

It was unusual.

Blonde woman with dark blonde wavey hair out, seated at a table. A brunette woman sits beside her, hand rests on her cheek After ticking Tasmania off her travel wish list, Celine was due to meet up with Justine in Darwin.(Supplied: Justine Ropet)

When Justine called Ariane to ask if she’d spoken with Celine, Ariane says she realised “pretty quickly that something wasn’t right”.

Justine phoned friends in Sydney who tried Celine’s number with no success, then messaged Celine’s Coles Bay friends, Gabby Patterson and Mel Lancaster. No one had news.

The explanations they’d all told themselves — she’s out of mobile range; she’s just busy travelling and enjoying herself — no longer gave comfort.

On June 26, Justine and Gabby phoned Tasmania Police.

The next day, police found Celine’s car at the Philosopher Falls car park.

A brown roadside sign says Philosopher Falls 1km. Trees and thick forest surrounds the signage Philosopher Falls is located about 10 minutes out of the small town of Waratah.
 (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A road lined with thick row of trees that stretch overhead. A reflection of the trees can be seen in a car window Entering the forest archway en route to Philosopher Falls car park.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Close up of green feathery moss on a tree branch Thick moss covers the branches in the forest.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A towering cluster of trees both standing and fallen are covered in thick dark green moss. Celine entered the dense Philosopher Falls walking trail and never returned.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Inspector Andrew Hanson of Tasmania Police says the fact her camping gear was still in the car suggested Celine had gone for a walk to the falls with the intention of returning to the car.

A search began. Police and SES scoured air, water and land despite wet weather playing havoc with the search.

Ariane appreciated the effort. But by then, she knew her daughter was dead. “I knew it,” she says. “So much time without news. She went for a walk in the forest. She didn’t return to her car.”

A young woman wearing thick-rimmed glasses holds arm out for 'selfie'. Her sister is on left and mother on her right, smiling Ariane Mathieu with her daughters Celine and Amelie Cremer.(Supplied)A white piece of paper stuck to a white wall. It is written in French and features an image of a young woman Home in Belgium, family and friends were raising money to support the search for Celine.(Australian Story: Erin Semmler)

Justine, however, was unconvinced. Within a fortnight, she and her friend Gabriel Remy travelled from Belgium to Tasmania, still “pretty sure” that Celine would be found alive.

Then they visited Philosopher Falls and saw its density, the tangled web of fallen trees and thick scrub just metres off the track. “Then it’s kind of [clear] for me that yeah, she could have been lost,” Justine says. “I can confidently say that she’d never been in a forest like this before.”

An expansive forest of thick trees taken from a slightly elevated view. A blue sky with some cloud and a rainbow in the sky Overlooking the thick forest from Whyte Hills.
 (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

The search went for two weeks before being called off. It was reactivated again for three days from July 29 after Celine’s mobile data was received, giving the ping locations. A cadaver dog was used but no evidence was found.

“There was nothing credible to suggest anything other than Celine, unfortunately, made a mistake and met, sadly, with a tragic end simply through misadventure,” Inspector Hanson says.

It was not the end for Justine. “I needed answers. It’s not just that I wanted it, I needed some answers and I still needed closure.”

Gabby is in awe of Justine’s determination. “Justine kept going,” she says.

“Justine had one goal in mind and that was to find her best friend.”

— Gabby Patterson

Two teenagers, one with dark blonde hair, the other with brown hair, stand cheek-to-cheek Celine and Justine have been friends since kindergarten.(Supplied: Justine Ropet)Searches, psychics and dark theories

Speculation that Celine was abducted began flooding the internet.

Someone claimed a lot of ex-prisoners were relocated to Waratah and a “dodgy character” could have followed her to the falls. Some talked of a spur-of-the-moment kidnapping as Celine walked the trail. Others suggested a serial killer was on the loose.

It filled Justine with dread, so much so that she and Gabriel barricaded the hotel door with a chair the first night they arrived.

“My biggest fear was that Celine might have been kept somewhere and suffering,” she says. “I really wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case.”

So driven was Justine to find her friend, she uprooted her life in Belgium to move to Tasmania for more than six months, following every lead.

She settled in Coles Bay, where she befriended Gabby and Mel who helped her when they could, on one occasion searching a location suggested by a psychic. “She was going to stop at nothing,” Gabby says.

In 2024, Justine contacted Ken Gamble, a private investigator who probed the 2019 case of another missing Belgian backpacker, Theo Hayez, whose body has never been found.

Ken agreed to investigate free of charge but doubted Celine had been abducted. “The evidence doesn’t support foul play,” he says.

A man wearing a brown collared shirt in a mid-shot portrait standing in a room with blue painted walls Private investigator Ken Gamble took on Celine’s case free of charge.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

He accessed Celine’s mobile data and was able to show Celine’s movements the day she went missing at the falls were consistent with being lost. She was walking at her usual pace, not running as if fleeing a pursuer. “He brought me a lot of reassurance … that she got lost,” Justine says.

But that wasn’t the closure she craved. She and Gabriel continued to talk with contacts, many of them bushwalkers who did their own searches of Philosopher Falls after being moved by the story of Celine’s disappearance.

A man in a brown shirt and sweater leans over a laminated map, pointing. A crowd of people stand around him Private investigator Ken Gamble joins in a strategy huddle at the makeshift search headquarters at the Waratah Men’s Shed.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A man wearing long-sleeve shirt and pants as well as a cap and backpack shuffles along a mossy log in the forest Ken balances on mossy horizontal logs while following his search line.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A person wearing black boots and long dark pants balances on a mossy log in the forest. Only ankles down can be seen Volunteers came from around Australia to search for Celine Cremer.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

The two-part Australian Story “Lost” starts tonight at 8 on ABCTV and ABC iview.

Hundreds of volunteers answer the call

By February 2025, Justine and Gabriel decided to launch a private search, with the support of Celine’s mother, Ariane, and sister, Amelie. “[Justine] really did the impossible to get answers,” Ariane says.

Justine contacted Rob Parsons, a Tasmanian YouTuber and adventurer who had been investigating Celine’s case. He published a video call-out for volunteers to undertake a multi-day search.

More than 200 people responded within 24 hours. Ken and his team vetted them for experience and whittled the number down to 28, most from Tasmania but some from interstate.

Justine, Ariane and Gabriel launched fundraisers in Belgium and Australia, pulling together about $25,000 to help pay for food and accommodation, with the people of Waratah pitching in to cook and provide emotional support.

A large group of people, male and female, sit in a semi circle in chairs, their hands raised Ken Gamble addresses volunteers in a pre-search briefing.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A woman and two men lean over a table listening intently Celine’s friends Gabriel, Rachel and Yoan listen to the first volunteer briefing.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Two hands lean on a table intertwined holding each other. A female hand on top has a ring on one of the fingers. Rachel and Yoan support each other.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A group sits around a table with a large land map in front. Centre is a man speaking using hand to gesture. Five others listen Volunteer Alex Smith (centre) kept morale high throughout the search.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

On December 13, 2025, two and a half years since Celine went missing, the biggest private search at Philosopher Falls began.

No one setting out that day underestimated the task ahead. Tasmania’s cool, temperate Tarkine forest is both magical and treacherous, capable of evoking awe and presenting danger at every turn.

Man wearing long sleeve shirt and pants, plus gloves and backpack and hat, stands in mossy forest. Two branches make x shape X marks the spot: YouTuber Rob Parsons usually focuses his content on gold prospecting and mysteries but the story of the missing backpacker caught his attention.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Finding anything in this dense, mossy labyrinth is a big ask, especially after two winters and multiple unsuccessful searches.

Rob knew it was a needle-in-a-haystack proposition but, he reasoned, “it’s just gonna take the right person looking under the right log and it’s gonna be solved”.

A low angle of a row of four people, three men one woman, standing with backpacks on surrounded by tall trees Volunteers walk off track toward Celine’s last known GPS point in the forest.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Partial view of a man in a yellow jacket holding a mobile phone while kneeling with a white paper map. Glasses in his hand Mapping the search area accurately was key to ensuring nothing was missed.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A man in hi-vis yellow stands in the shade of a large upturned tree root speaking to a few other people. He holds a mobile phone Former park ranger Paul Helleman helps take volunteers through how to navigate the terrain.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Four people wearing backpacks and long-sleeved clothing scramble up a hill among a forest of straight trees More than 200 people volunteered to pitch in with the search efforts.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A male wearing an orange hi-vis vest over his clothing leans against a mossy tree. He holds an apple Volunteer Levi Smith leans against a mossy tree taking a lunch break at base camp.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

The 28 volunteers were split into two groups, with Rob and his father Benny leading a third team of Celine’s friends from Belgium. Celine’s mother, Ariane, dubbed them The Four Musketeers — Gabriel Remy, his brother, Antoine, Rachel Disbechl and her partner, Yoan Minnaert.

Justine decided not to be part of the search, uncertain if she could cope if nothing was found. “But I wasn’t ready to find something, either,” she says.

Four people, three men and one woman, all wear hi-visibility orange clothing standing as a group in a dense forest Celine’s friends Yoan Minnaert, Gabriel Remy, Rachel Disbechl and Antoine Remy travelled to Australia to find answers.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

“We can’t do anything anymore but find answers,” Rachel says.

‘Lost for words’ at major find

The whole search party walked to the top of the hill where Celine’s last ping registered, then separated to search a series of 50-metre grids.

Early on, a cry went out. “I found a bracelet!” A silvery chain glistened from under a log. Searchers peered closer, expectant. Then deflation. It was a dew-covered spider web.

They forged on.

close up of several rain drops sitting on a barely visual spiderweb in a dark hollow of sticks and leaves Raindrops on spider webs were mistaken for jewellery during the search.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Tony Hage was a straggler in his group. He’s a long-time bushwalker and SES search and rescue volunteer who had already gone looking for Celine at Philosopher Falls, privately, 21 times.

He wanted Celine’s family and friends to have answers.

Tony was walking carefully through horizontal scrub, a type of vegetation notorious in Tasmanian rainforests for forming a mess of fallen, tangled trees, when, mid-step, he saw something.

A mobile phone.

It was side-on, surrounded by moss, about 80 metres from Celine’s last ping.

A black mobile phone can be partially seen sticking out of mossy undergrowth and dirt Tucked in the undergrowth, the mobile phone was a remarkable find.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A man wearing black T-shirt, cap and blue gloves holds up a mobile phone just off the ground in a mossy forest Ken Gamble slowly lifts up the phone from mossy underbrush.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A group of people stand among trees. One has his hand held in the air by another as he smiles The group applauds Tony Hage’s remarkable find.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Six people in dark clothing bushwalking gear react in various happy ways looking at another man. They are in the forest Emotions were high with the discovery of Celine’s phone.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Footage captures the excitement of the moment as volunteers respond to Tony’s shout to come over. Then the cry goes up: “We found a phone! There’s a phone!”

“I’m lost for words,” Tony says, before falling on his haunches, overcome.

Then the verification begins. The phone is a lilac colour, like Celine’s. It’s a Samsung, like Celine’s.

Finally, Antoine reads out the serial number of Celine’s phone.

It’s a match.

“It was unexpected for me,” Rachel says. “I was like, ‘How is it possible?’ It’s incredible.”

Justine on Facetime call phone with Gabriel in the forest. His hand holding the phone can be seen Gabriel Remy calls Justine Ropet on Facetime to share the good news.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A woman with brunette hair kisses a necklace made with twine and a shell. She stands in forest. A man smiles behind her Rachel Disbechl kisses a necklace made with a shell from Coles Bay, the place Celine was living in Tasmania.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Even before the serial number was confirmed, Gabriel is on the phone to Justine, sharing the news they wanted — and did not want.

“It was quite crazy that after finally two years and a half we could actually find something concrete,” Justine says. “It was a relief but also a bit painful because I realised at this time what Celine really went through … to realise how wet, cold, scared in the dark, all alone, she might have been.”

Purple, blue and pink skies over a tree-lined gorge. Houses are in the background and a waterfall can be seen With a population of just over 200, Waratah is a small town on the western fringes of Tasmania.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)The heartbreaking wrong turn

The searchers were on a high after finding the mobile phone on the first day.

“For me, it changed everything about what I feel,” Rachel says. “I’m like, ‘OK, now I’m sure, 100 per cent, we can find something’.”

But the next day brought lightning, hail and rain. The search had to be postponed.

Three people in long-sleeved, orange hi-vis clothing emerge from a dense green forest. They appear wet and muddy Rain, hail and lightning forced the search to be suspended on day two.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Day three came and went with nothing to report except tired, aching bodies from relentless walking, crawling under fallen trees, bending — and sinking morale.

“We feel helpless, helpless in the face of nature,” Gabriel says. “Once you’re out there, you feel small. Really small. So, it’s hard knowing that she is … that she’s probably not far.”

But each step meant they were closer to ticking off another 50-metre grid and come day four, the team was back at it, now joined by Tasmania Police.

A large group of people huddle around a laptop, serious facial expressions The searchers gather around a laptop to familiarise themselves with Celine’s clothing before heading out for the second time.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A person holding a wooden ruler points at a white map on the wall. Red and black markings indicate movements and direction Maps mark the findings so far.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A photo of a woman wearing a beige jacket and grey hoodie on a laptop screen A photo of Celine shows the outfit she was last seen wearing.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Rob Parsons, his father, Benny, and the Four Musketeers were covering one of the unexplored grids and about to turn around when Benny spied a bottle.

It was a long-necked, glass bottle bearing the name of a Tasmanian spring water company, Mt Ossa.

It could have been anyone’s bottle. But it was about 325 metres east of where the mobile phone was found. With it was a black plastic rubbish bag that had been made into a poncho. Both were found in a hollow near a fallen tree — the type of place a lost person might huddle to endure a cold, wet night.

Ken Gamble says further investigation showed it had a use-by-date of mid-2024, which meant it was distributed in 2023.

Plus, “it happens to be the same brand of bottle that was being sold in the restaurant where Celine worked for a short time in Coles Bay”.

A theory began to form about Celine’s plight. At some point after 4:18pm, she realised she’d dropped her phone, her only form of navigation. The night was closing in, she was lost and decided to stop for the night, maybe thinking she’d find the phone in the morning.

It hinted, says Rob Parsons, “that there was a very high chance Celine survived that night and had all day two to continue on lost in the forest … which is something that nobody expected”.

A woman wearing black and orange hi-vis is blurred in background, foreground she holds a phone showing image of young woman Rachel holds up one of her favourite photos of her missing friend, Celine Cremer.

 (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A woman in orange hi-vis pictured from below shines a torch while walking through dense, tall forest Rachel shines a torch beneath dense horizontal trees as the search continues.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Two men and a woman, all wearing orange hi-vis clothing and head gear, listen as a man in grey and a bucket hat talks Gabriel Remy describes feeling “helpless in the face of nature” in the dense, unforgiving forest.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

The next find, and what it suggested, was heartbreaking. Philosopher Falls was once part of a mining area, where a water race, a man-made channel to supply water to a mine, was built.

Some of the water race is still obvious in the forest, looking much like a footpath, but in some parts, it’s been swallowed by vegetation.

Just 65 metres from where the water bottle was located, Rob found the water race — overgrown, difficult to traverse but, if followed, would lead directly to the car park.

Ken says that water race would have got her out of there.

Instead, says Rob: “There’s a pretty high chance that Celine walked straight over it and then down into the Arthur River.”

A blue sign with white text reads Way Out with an arrow underneath pointing left. New signage was installed on the Philosopher Falls track after Celine disappeared in June 2023.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)River finally sets Celine free

The search teams covered about 40 hectares of thick, unforgiving forest in that epic five-day search, with nothing located on the final day.

The disappointment that Celine’s remains could not be found was great but so was the determination of many of the volunteers to keep looking.

Brown water in a puddle of a muddy walking track. More rain drops are falling adding to the puddle Raindrops land in a mud puddle on Philosopher Falls track.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Man with a shaved hair cut wearing a backpack look upwards seated on a mossy tree root  Gabriel Remy began organising another search after the December effort finished.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A man wearing a black T-shirt and cap clapping. Foreground a man in orange long-sleeve shirt also claps above his head Ken Gamble joins in the applause for the hard work of search crew volunteers.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Three sets of dirty boots lined up on the ground Boots out to dry after a few soggy days of searching.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A woman with brunette hair hugs a man who has grey hair and wears a navy T-shirt. Rachel expresses gratitude and farewells volunteers.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Tasmanian bushwalker Jarrod Boys was one of the searchers who wouldn’t give up.

On January 28 this year, he set out, solo, working on the theory that if Celine survived the first night, she would have made her way to the nearby Arthur River.

“If I were in her shoes, I would’ve made the decision to follow that large water source downstream, hoping to eventually find a road, a town, or worst-case scenario, a coastline from which I could make my way back to civilisation,” Jarrod says. “It’s a sensible decision and I believe that she was likely to have done that.”

He made his way to the riverbed with an “overwhelming certainty” that he would find Celine that day.

About two and a half hours into his search, Jarrod stopped to catch his breath.

“I just looked down and about a metre in front of my feet was what was clear to me a human jawbone with several teeth still intact,” he says.

“It was unmistakably human.”

A man wearing long pants and a hi-vis vest with short, shaved hair sits on a log in a moss-covered forest Jarrod Boys was searching solo downstream from Philosopher Falls when he found Celine’s remains.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Four police officers in black and yellow hi-vis walking out of a forest Tasmania Police walk out of Philosopher Falls after finding more remains and clothing.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Water flowing down a rocky wall covered in greenery  The walking track Celine entered goes to Philosopher Falls.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Two police officers in yellow and black hi-vis long-sleeved shirts stand. One holds a brown bag open the other places an item Tasmania Police recovered several items and remains of missing tourist Celine Cremer in late January and early February.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Shock and adrenaline rushed through him but also a huge sense of relief that “we could take a massive leap toward providing the closure that her friends and family deserve”.

Jarrod did not want to interfere with the scene so he took multiple photos of the jawbone and marked its GPS coordinates before heading back to get reception and call the police.

A police search followed along the riverbed and more bones, a polar fleece jacket and a car key were found.

When the key was inserted in Celine’s car door, it opened.

An aerial image shows a vehicle driving on a road that is dwarfed by dense green forestry The dense rainforest, seen here from Whyte Hills Lookout, towers over a vehicle.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

Jarrod and Ken Gamble know Tasmania Police’s original search efforts have been criticised but believe that is unfair.

Jarrod says that in winter, when Celine went missing and the police search began, the water level would have been about 30 centimetres higher, covering the bones if they were there at the time.

But the men believe it’s more likely Celine died after falling into the river, or trying to cross it, and became trapped in a tangle of sunken logs.

And it was only sometime later that the river released her.

A satellite map of green forestry has graphic text on it which indicate where Celine Cremer's remains were found on Arthur River A solo searcher found human remains about 2km away from where Celine’s phone was located.(Australian Story)’I can properly start grieving’

Every single person who has ever pulled a backpack on knows, often only in retrospect, how close they came to catastrophe.

That late night solo walk on the beach in Kenya, the one you still talk about because of how free and alive you felt, could have ended so differently. We took our chances at the dodgy nightclub in Croatia, the bus ride over a mountain pass in India, accepting that lift from a new pal in Brazil.

But, as Rob Parsons puts it, when Celine went for an afternoon walk at Philosopher Falls, “she just lost every coin flip”.

“So many decisions where she got the short straw,” he says. “Turning off the track, losing the phone, walking over the water race, and then whatever happened down at the river.”

For Celine’s mum, Ariane, the efforts of Justine, the Four Musketeers and a host of strangers to discover what happened to Celine has been one bright light amid the sadness.

“It can restore one’s faith in humanity,” Ariane says.

An older woman in a red jumper sits in a room, looking sad. Ariane Mathieu expressed how grateful she was to the community for their “bravery in doing the searches”. (Australian Story: Erin Semmler)Two photos in wooden frames on a mantle, one of a middle-aged man, the other young blonde woman. A candle sits between the two Once Celine has been returned home to Belgium, her family plans to scatter ashes at a special spot where her grandparents and father were also put to rest.(Australian Story: Erin Semmler)A family of eight of various ages sit and eat a meal at a dining table Celine Cremer’s family gathers together for a meal at their Belgium home.(Australian Story: Erin Semmler)

Justine is heartbroken that her friend is dead but grateful that many of the questions about Celine’s fate have been answered.

“It means that I can finally start grieving,” Justine says. “I didn’t want to grieve … because there was still this tiny chance that she could be alive somewhere. So, it’s a good thing that now I can properly start grieving.”

Justine is making her way back to Belgium now, and wherever she goes, she carries with her a heart-shaped stone in memory of Celine — her way to keep travelling with her best friend.

The stone has done a lot of miles and is a little broken now, Justine says, “but so is my heart”.

A woman in a pale pink top and pants sits straight in a chair in a kitchen and dining room, serious facial expression Justine Ropet says while it’s been difficult to face the reality, the discovery of Celine’s remains has given her space to grieve.(Australian Story: Erin Semmler)A woman's hands hold a pink heart-shaped stone Justine carries this heart-shaped stone in memory of Celine.(Australian Story: Erin Semmler)Two women and a man pose on a shore. Gabriel, Justine and Celine were childhood friends from neighbouring villages in Belgium.(Supplied: Justine Ropet)

There’s a stone at Philosopher Falls, too. At the start of the trail sits a beautiful piece of granite, bearing a painting by local Waratah artist Judi Hunter and a dedication to Celine from the people of the town.

In the painting, a white stag, a symbol of eternity in Europe, stands by a waterfall, next to a young woman with blonde hair and gossamer wings.

On the plaque are the words: Celine. You will never be forgotten.

A small stone memorial sits underneath a white sign in rainforest. A memorial to Celine Cremer sits at the Philosopher Falls trail head.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A close-up of a painting showing a woman with wings. Details of the community’s tribute to Celine.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A bunch of orange and yellow flowers wet and slightly wilted. Raindrops can be seen on the petals A bunch of flowers are wet from the rain at a memorial to missing tourist Celine Cremer.(Australian Story: Morgan Timms)A gold plaque on a mossy stone, covered in raindrops, reads: "Celine you will never be forgotten from the community of Waratah" “You will never be forgotten”. A plaque on the memorial pays tribute to Celine Cremer, a person the community of Waratah will never forget. (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)Credits

Reporting: Erin Semmler

Feature writer: Leisa Scott

Photography and videography: Morgan Timms and Marc Smith

Additional video: Courtesy Rob Parsons

Digital production: Megan Mackander

Digital design: Katia Shatoba

Development: Thomas Brettell

Satellite imagery and mapping: Mark Doman

Editorial: Lisa McGregor and Greg Hassall