Tourist Missing in Western Australian Bush Found Alive

I started listening to our news and was unexpectedly, but very happy to hear that the German tourist, missing for more than two weeks in a Western Australian park was found Friday afternoon wandering beside a track by a passing motorist.

  Karolina Wilga was presumed missing earlier this week after her vehicle was found abandoned in the park.  Police organised a search for several days but did not find her.  The last news report I had heard,  was Friday afternoon, and it sounded as if the police were scaling down their search without finding her.

WA police said that Karolina was found near the search area  by a passing motorist who brought her safely to the police.  She had minor injuries and had many ‘mosquito bites’.  Karolina was conveyed to a Perth hospital where she is recovering from her ordeal.  Police said that her family in Germany have been informed of her situation.

The Australian Bush is a great place to explore and contains many marvelous wonders but for many of us it can  also awaken many primordial fears.  The fear of being lost being one of those fears.  It  is a wretched and frightening experience.  You can be all confident and assured of yourself and then within minutes distraught and panicked when you realise you don’t know exactly where you are or that others don’t know where you are.

Locally, in the main street of Neerim South sits a park bench to.  On that bench sits a little plaque, a reminder of a little boy lost and never found again at the nearby Tooronga Falls.  Despite a huge search by police and locals at the time, no trace was found of the boy.

Johnny Ashcroft wrote a song about a boy in similar circumstances, lost  in the New England Ranges of Northern New South Wales.  The song tells of the loss, the grief, the search for and in this case the eventual reconciliation upon finding the boy.  It is telling for its humanity and the story is instructive to be aware of the danger of wandering off.

News at the moment has little to be happy about, so it was a welcome and unexpected surprise to hear this story.  I hope Karolina recovers well and I wish all the best to her and her family and friends.

ABC Australia news article on finding Karolina Wilga.