{"id":800597,"date":"2026-07-14T22:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800597\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T22:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:30:17","slug":"carolina-wilga-update-how-a-wa-pastoralist-saved-a-german-backpacker-from-a-12-day-outback-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800597\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolina Wilga update: How a WA pastoralist saved a German backpacker from a 12-day outback \u2018nightmare\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

German<\/a> backpacker Carolina Wilga thought she was going to die before she was found by a pastoralist after a 12-day \u201cnightmare\u201d<\/a> lost in Western <\/a>Australia<\/a>\u2019s outback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year on, her rescuer, Tania Henley, has shared the remarkable story<\/a> we knew so little about \u2013 from frostbite, to a book deal, and a \u201cthanks\u201d from the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

\"Carolina<\/p>\n

German backpacker Carolina Wilga leaves Perth hospital after five nights recovering from her outback ordeal\u00a09News<\/p>\n

Henley was driving along a red dusty road in the Wheatbelt near Beacon, about 250 kilometres north-east of Perth<\/a>, when she saw the backpacker waving her arms.<\/p>\n

By a miracle, Wilga was rescued by a stranger after spending 12 days and 11 nights lost in the bush.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The then-26-year-old stepped onto a police<\/a> jet last July as her story of survival made international headlines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean I thought she was dead and she thought she was going to die,\u201d Henley said.<\/p>\n

Acting Detective Inspector Jessica Securo led the search with more than 100 officers on the case.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tania Henley has shared the remarkable story of how she rescued German backpacker Carolina Wilga.\u00a09News<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coordination and uplifting resources and placing them into remote areas, really made this one different,\u201d Securo said.<\/p>\n

CCTV of her last known movements was shared across the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs time went on the concern for her safety grew and at times wondered if we would find her alive,\u201d Securo said.<\/p>\n

Then, in the first glimmer of hope, Wilga\u2019s beaten-up van was found bogged.<\/p>\n

A day later, the backpacker stumbled onto Bimbjy Road as Henley drove around the corner, her ute \u201cunusually\u201d packed with snacks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the first glimmer of hope, Wilga\u2019s beaten-up van was found bogged.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018I saw there was a lady going to give me an apple\u2019 \u2013 well how do you get around that?\u201d Henley told 9News.<\/p>\n

The pair drove an hour to emergency crews on standby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no time to say thank you and goodbye, it was just yeah,\u201d Henley said.<\/p>\n

Months after the fateful find, Wilga thanked her rescuer in a text message.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said it was 12 degrees and raining, no snow<\/a> and feels like Australia in winter,\u201d Henley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s half of how she survived so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilga spent six days at Fiona Stanley Hospital, ravaged with mosquito bites.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe got frostbite on her feet and when I found her she had one of her feet \u2026 wrapped up with her scarf,\u201d Henley said.<\/p>\n

A year ago, the tiny Wheatbelt town was thrust into the spotlight when Wilga was found alive. Now, the story could finally be told in a book, with the German backpacker reportedly offered a publishing deal.<\/p>\n

Henley is hopeful of a reunion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell it has changed my life, for better or worse, finding her, maybe my outlook on life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German backpacker Carolina Wilga thought she was going to die before she was found by a pastoralist after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-800597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}