Caroline Wilga’s friends ‘excited’ for pub feed reunion after backpacker found alive in Wheatbelt

German backpacker Carolina Wilga is in for a warm welcome home from her friends after she was miraculously found alive almost two weeks after vanishing in Western Australia’s remote Wheatbelt region.

Wilga, 26, was located “safe and well” on Friday afternoon, 12 days after she was last seen outside a general store in Beacon, more than 300km northeast of Perth.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Missing backpacker found alive after spending twelve days lost in bush land.

A stranger made the miracle discovery by the boundary of the 300,000-hectare Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, before she was flown to Perth for treatment.

Five of Ms Wilga’s friends were waiting for her outside Royal Perth Hospital just before 7pm.

They can’t wait to throw their arms around her before going for a feed at the pub.

“We just heard from the news that she was found and alive, which had everyone excited,” close friend and fellow traveller Miranda said.

Miranda said she had been in touch with Wilga’s parents — who “couldn’t believe” their daughter had been found.

“I was actually in contact with her family every day almost and they’re very happy,” she said.

“They almost couldn’t believe it, but yeah, they were just overwhelmed with happiness.”

Gioia Bezemer described Wilga as a “surf chick” who loves adventure.

“She is very outgoing, she likes sports, she’s a surf chick,” she said.

“She likes adventure . . . she’s definitely very friendly as well, she talks a lot, she’s really nice, a very nice person.”

The last time Bezemer heard from Wilga was on June 28 via text message.

“She texted me at seven in the morning that she had to give me a book back,” she said.

“And then she never replied back.

“I think it was . . . four days later that she had gone MIA and her family reached out as well.

“That was the point that we started to worry.

“We were wondering where she had gone, why she had taken that route.” Jules Briand was eager to catch up with his friend and share a meal outside of hospital.

“I can’t wait to hug her and tell her that she got us worried ... and have good food and drink with her.”

Wilga’s family overseas first raised the alarm when they failed to make contact with her, sparking a widespread air and land search.

She was found with some injuries and ravaged in mosquito bites, but was not seriously hurt.

WA Premier Roger Cook said the news Wilga had been found was “nothing short of remarkable”.

“I’m incredibly relieved to confirm that Carolina Wilga has been found alive this afternoon after twelve long days missing in WA’s outback,” he said.

“This news is nothing short of remarkable.

“To our emergency services and everyone who searched, shared information, and supported the family through this ordeal — thank you.

“We’re yet to have the full picture of what happened, but tonight, we can all breathe a little easier knowing Carolina is safe and well.”

Wilga has been backpacking around Australia for the past two years, working most recently at regional mine sites in WA.

She had also been staying at backpackers and hostels during her visits to Perth.

She had not been heard from since June 29, when she was seen on CCTV visiting the general store in Beacon, northeast of WA’s capital city.

She had also travelled solo through Toodyay a day earlier — with police also releasing vision of her stopping at a service station at about 4.30pm, smiling as she paid with her phone — and Dowerin.

Agencies around the country were alerted and the search at one point was a national one after friends and associates told police she may have planned to travel interstate to the east coast.

But that search zone was narrowed right down when Wilga’s van was found bogged at the bottom of a rocky outcrop on Thursday in Karroun Hill, about 40km away from her last sighting.

Police said she had made “extensive efforts” to get her recently purchased 1995 Mitsubishi Delica out of trouble, with no luck.

“(The van) was located in very heavy and quite challenging terrain,” Inspector Martin Glynn said.

“She’d used Maxtrax and pieces of wood to try to free the vehicle from its location but unfortunately it was unsuccessful.”

Aerial assets including helicopters, planes and drones had taken to the sky in the search for her.

Trackers were also sent to the area but recent rain and firm ground made it difficult to pick up which way she had set off.

The inspector said the area was a “wonderful class A nature reserve” but not one of the “classic visiting areas”.

“There are several others which include outcrops of rock, that are very much part of the tourist trail, but certainly this one wouldn’t be one that people would visit normally,” Glynn said.