Locals speak of tough terrain where missing backpacker Carolina Wilga was found

Courier-Mail

12-07-2025

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After 12 days missing in some of Western Australia's most unforgiving bushland, 26-year-old backpacker Carolina Wilga has been found alive in a miracle that has brought relief to the shaken local community.
Locals have described the area where Ms Wilga vanished as harsh and unforgiving, with a maze of gravel roads winding through dry, empty bushland.
Police located the missing backpacker's Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon at Karroun Hill on the fringe of Western Australia's wheatbelt on Friday, but there was no sign of Ms Wilga herself.
Wheatbelt resident Tilly Elizabeth, who lives on a farm not far from Beacon, said the area around Karroun Hill was 'deserted'.
'There's been a few disappearances in the area,' she said.
'There's a lot of wheat and sheep farming, it's pretty deserted, I can drive along a dirt road and not see anyone.
'There's not many people around even in Beacon or Dalwallinu, we're very spread out.
'Out this way, it's just rocks and barren land.'
The Mitsubishi Delica van that was driven by Carolina Wilga was located abandoned in the Karroun Hill area. Picture: WA Police
Ms Elizabeth said the nature reserve was known to locals but rarely visited by outsiders.
'Karroun Hill is a lookout, it's not super popular, it's not really on the way to anything' she said.
'I go exploring through there all the time, but I get nervous if I'm in an area I don't know.'
She said while the lookout attracts the occasional visitor, it is easy to become disoriented, even for those who know the region well.
'The locals know the tracks really well, but it's so easy to get lost or stuck out here, it's all unsealed roads,
'Take a few turns on a gravel road and you can't find your way back. I get nervous if I'm not sure if there's an end or if it will connect up to bitumen,
Ms Elizabeth said rain can quickly change the landscape and plunging night-time temperatures make survival even harder.
'Rain can cover up your tracks, and at the moment it's freezing, just a couple of degrees at night,' she said.
'People can underestimate WA.'
Ms Wilga was last seen in Beacon after travelling through regional Western Australia. Picture: WA Police.
Police said the weather had made search efforts difficult, but noted it would have been 'a thousand time worse' for Ms Wilga.
'As you can imagine from the trauma she's suffered for the last few days, she's been through a great deal,' Inspector Martin Glynn said.
'It's a really, really challenging environment to cope in and the weather conditions have been really adverse with temperatures getting down to 0 degrees at night, there's been rain.
'It must have been a thousand times worse for her in her condition.
Ms Elizabeth said the discovery of Carolina Wilga has brought immense relief to the remote wheatbelt community.
'The community is ecstatic, we've all cracked a beer for her,' she said.
'No one wants to be known as the place people go missing, we were fearing the worst.
'It's tough country, she must be a tough girl.'
Originally published as 'You can get lost so easily': Locals reveal harsh conditions where backpacker vanished