KEY POINTS:
Their worlds couldn't have been more different, but when Birgit Brauer accepted a ride from Michael Wallace she may have thought she had found a short-term travelling companion with similar interests.
The 28-year-old German backpacker and 44-year-old woodcutter had both been working their way around New Zealand. They
both enjoyed the outdoors and nature.
In the evenings they both enjoyed socialising at their different local pubs - Wallace cradling a beer and Brauer drinking rum and coke.
Brauer had arrived in New Zealand seven months earlier and was making her way up the South Island, sightseeing and tramping in between working odd jobs to fund her travels.
She trusted New Zealanders and often hitchhiked as she made her way north.
Wallace had also recently arrived in the North Island, after working a series of odd jobs and spending time in the bush in the upper South Island.
It's likely that Wallace, who did not have a car of his own, had also thumbed his way north on more than one occasion.
On September 20 2005, the two travellers' paths crossed at an intersection in the small town of Waitotara, setting in motion events that would have a tragic end.
Brauer was sitting on one of her backpacks at the side of the road, hoping for a ride. Wallace was heading north in a grey Toyota Hilux Surf. Several other motorists had seen Brauer but it was Wallace who stopped.
As Brauer gratefully accepted the lift and the pair drove towards New Plymouth they probably chatted about their recent travels, work and experiences in the bush.
Brauer probably told Wallace about her time on an Organic Farms programme in Wanganui, her hotel cleaning job, her adventures in Queenstown, and about tramping through parts of the upper South Island.
Wallace perhaps told her how he had lived on a marae in Kaikoura where he took care of the grounds, glasshouses and large vegetable patch before he headed to Seddon to work in the vineyards. Finally he, too, made it to the North Island where he had been cutting firewood around Himatangi.
There was no way the backpacker could have known she had just thumbed a ride with a man who was driving a stolen car and was on the run from the police - a man who had a violent background that included rape and aggravated robbery with a firearm, a background that included too much drinking, drug-taking and failing to appear in court on drink-driving charges.
No one will ever know if Brauer sensed anything was wrong as the pair drove through the rural towns of Hawera and Opunake, the picturesque coast stretching out to the left.
Was there a time when she thought back to the warnings she had been given that morning about the dangers of hitchhiking?
Four hours after Wallace and Brauer's paths crossed, the happy-go-lucky backpacker was dead.
Police believe things turned sour when Wallace stopped at Lucy's Gully, southwest of New Plymouth, with more than sightseeing on his mind.
In the Crown's closing submissions this week to a jury of eight women and four men, prosecutor Tim Brewer speculated that Wallace had taken a sexual interest in Brauer as they travelled north.
At Lucy's Gully, a popular bush-walking area that would have appealed to the backpacker's love of nature, Wallace made his move.
As Brauer tried to fight him off she was struck in the head with an iron bar, leaving a pool of blood by the side of the road.
He got as far as unbuttoning her jeans and lifting her top but was disturbed by an approaching vehicle. He then killed her with a stab wound through the heart.
Wallace then left her body, which was found later that evening by a jogger, and spent the next 18 days disposing of all her possessions at Cardiff and Lake Rotokare before hiding from police in the Manawatu and Horowhenua districts.
Brauer had arrived in New Zealand in February 2005, a week before her 28th birthday, after hearing about the country from friends. She loved nature and had a diploma in geography so visiting New Zealand was the ideal opportunity for her to see some of the things she had studied at Dresden Technical University several years earlier.
"Birgit was probably a person who was very easily afraid," said her father, Knut Brauer, when he visited the country after his daughter's death.
"Part of her decision to come here to New Zealand was also because it's considered to be a safe country. There are no dangerous animals There was nothing she needed to be afraid of."
She spent most of her time in the South Island. She enjoyed a scenic flight over Mt Cook, visited Stewart Island, and tramped through the northwest South Island for a week.
From June she spent three months in Queenstown, a place where she soon found a family away from home at Deco Backpackers.
She shared a room in the old art deco-style house with several other tourists and keep a photo of her niece and nephew next to her bed.
There was a communal kitchen and a cosy living area where they ate, laughed, played guitar and shared stories of their travels.
Barney, Deco's friendly dog, would have undoubtedly received his share of attention from Brauer, who had worked with a charity organisation before starting her travels.
TO HELP fund her adventure in Queenstown, Brauer landed a job cleaning rooms at the Outrigger at the Beacon, a nice hotel on the edge of Lake Wakatipu.
It was just a five-minute walk down the hill from Deco and at the hotel she made more friends as she changed sheets, cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed.
At night she would join her pals and became a regular at Winnie Bagoes, a colourful but laidback restaurant and bar where tourists and locals hang out, dining on pizza and listening to music.
When she was not working or socialising Brauer spent her time exploring all the region had to offer. She particularly enjoyed walks through Queenstown's snow-capped hills and along the edge of the lake.
But by mid-August Brauer felt it was time to move on. She said goodbye to her friends and headed up the South Island.
By September she had seen Wellington and made it as far north as Wanganui where she stayed with Caryl and Fritz Blomkvist. In exchange for board she worked on their secluded farmlet as part of the Willing Workers on Organic Farms programme.
During her 12 days there the Blomkvists got to know a bit about Brauer, although the backpacker was always more interested in learning about the farm and what the couple did than talking about herself.
On September 17, just days before her death, Brauer accompanied the Blomkvists to Kai Iwi beach. Collecting seashells and mementos from beaches was one of her hobbies.
On that trip she collected some pumice and a distinctive rock with holes in it, putting both treasures in the pocket of her green jacket as keepsakes.
That jacket was later found thrown over her body at Lucy's Gully and the mementos were found in her backpack discarded at Lake Rotokare three days after her death.
Brauer had intended to leave the farmlet on September 19 but the weather was bad so she decided to spend another night with the Blomkvists.
The next morning the weather hadn't improved much but Brauer felt it was time to go. The Blomkvists warned her about the dangers of hitchhiking but the confident young woman said that she had been safe so far.
She would be fine, Brauer assured them.
Brauer took a photograph of her hosts before being dropped off on the outskirts of Wanganui, with a hug and a promise to call that night.
THAT CALL never arrived. Instead the police arrived in the early hours of the following morning. They had found a piece of paper in Brauer's pocket with the Blomkvist's phone number on it.
So started the three-week investigation into the backpacker's murder, an investigation that led to Wallace's arrest and this week a conviction for murder.
It is now nearly two years since Brauer's death.
The Queenstown hotel where she worked has changed ownership twice and no longer employs its own housekeepers.
Winnie Bagoes, the pub where she drank, is now just Winnies.
At Deco Backpackers her roommates and friends have all moved on, although Barney the dog is still there.
At Lucy's Gully a memorial stands on the side of the bush where her body was found. There is a candle, paua shells, ribbons and other decorations. They are faded and weathered.
But despite the time that has passed, the people who met Brauer on her travels around New Zealand have not forgotten the happy smiling backpacker with whom they shared such good times.
Most no longer want to talk to reporters. With the trial complete they just want to move on.
Brauer's parents, who were called just minutes after this week's verdict, will never get over losing their daughter but say the verdict provides some relief over the tragic end to her travels.
