German backpacker publishes memoir of 11-night outback survival

Backpacker Carolina Wilga, who vanished near Beacon after leaving Perth in a Mitsubishi van, has published a German memoir called "Escaping the Outback: My Fight for Survival in the Australian Wilderness." She recounts how she swerved to avoid an imagined oncoming vehicle, crashed through a fence and a rock, and spent the first night trapped in the van. Over the next 11 nights she trekked barefoot through the Wheatbelt, subsisting on leaves, stems, flowers and puddle water while battling dizziness, sandfly bites and extreme cold.

A mantra about trusting herself and thoughts of her family kept her moving until she found a road marker and signaled for help. Farmer Tania Henley, driving along Mouroubra Road, recognized her from the ongoing search and rescued her, sharing an emotional embrace. The book, available only in German, also explores Wilga’s post-rescue panic attacks and how she turned the trauma into personal strength.