A German backpacker who sparked an intense multi-day search when she disappeared in the Australian outback has been reconnected with the local farmer that saved her life.

Tania Henley came across a malnourished and frost-bitten Carolina Wilga at the boundary of the 300,000-hectare Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, more than 300km northeast of Perth, last year.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: German backpacker’s 11-night outback survival ordeal

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After 11 nights alone and without supplies, Wilga was instantly comforted by Henley’s embrace and the soup she brought with her.

“She hugged me and it was what I needed. It was just amazing,” Wilga said.

During an Australian-exclusive sit-down with 7NEWS, Wilga beamed as she spoke via a video call with the person who plucked her from danger and laughed when Henley joked the 27-year-old looked “a lot better” than when the pair met in July, 2025.

“I’m so glad. You look so well,” Henley said.

Carolina Wilga has reconnected with Tania Henley a year after the backpacker was rescued from the Australian outback. Credit: 7NEWS

Aerial images of Wilga’s 1995 Mitsubishi Delica van abandoned in thick bush had cast doubt that the backpacker would be found alive.

She told 7NEWS she believes she was concussed and hallucinating from an earlier crash when she left her car — dressed only in a dress and without shoes, food or water — after hearing a noise.

“(It was) kind of like an alarm for me, and for me I felt like I have to wake up,” she said.

“I’m sleeping. It was my alarm, like get up out of your bed. So I started walking but I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Wilga said she was buoyed by thoughts of her family when at her lowest, and “I just walked”.

“I made my mum a promise that I will walk until I die, that I will not give up, I want to live,” she said.

Henley revealed she thinks often about the German’s remarkable endurance, because the nights were “just so cold, so, so cold”.

“All of my friends go, well we just don’t know how you survived,” she said.

“You did an amazing job to survive. It was incredible really.”

Carolina Wilga left her van before it was found by search teams stuck in thick bush. Credit: 7NEWS

Carolina Wilga’s van was found in Karroun Hill, more than 300km northeast of Perth. Credit: 7NEWS

During their chat it was revealed the pair had almost crossed paths at Mt Churchman 24 hours before Wilga was ultimately discovered.

“I went there the day before and I could only get about 3/4 of the way because the water has washed out the track but I was looking for your tyre tracks,” Henley said.

Wilga has plans to revisit Australia and drop in to Bimbijy Station to see Henley

“Thank you very, very much, Tania ... you were such an angel,” Wilga said.

“It was not only that you took me to the police, (but) how you talked to me and how kind you were — this is not that common so thank you for this. And, I have your hoodie, still.”

Wilga says she feared she would die in WA’s outback. Credit: 7NEWS

Tania Henley came to the rescue. Credit: 7NEWS

Henley was confident their “paths will cross again” and hoped others in her situation would do the same thing.

“To me, it’s the Australian way. You help when people need help. that’s how it should be really,” she said.

Wilga has written a book about her experience titled Escaping the Outback: My Fight for Survival in the Australian Wilderness

You can watch Carlina Wilga’s hour-long interview with 7NEWS here.