It led to her finding both love and a new home - Mt Nicholas Station on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.
Originally from Munich, in Germany, Ms Bernbeck travelled to Australia in 2010, following the ending of a relationship, keen to ''go away from everything'' for a while.
While she had heard of Uluru and knew Australia was a big country, that was the extent of her knowledge.
She bought a Holden Commodore and travelled alone. Armed with some basic camping gear, despite having never been camping, she set off to view the country.
The car broke down ''in the middle of nowhere'' on the Stuart Highway, between Katherine and Elliott.
She left the car and got a ride to a roadhouse, where she ended up working while she waited for it to be repaired. At that time, her English was not very good and she found it difficult to understand truck drivers, she recalled.
Dave Butson, from Mt Nicholas Station, was working on an outback cattle station. He called in one day and the two hit it off. She returned to Germany, told her boss she would not be coming back and flew back to Darwin where Mr Butson picked her up and they did some further travelling around Australia.
They later flew to New Zealand and when she boarded a boat to travel to Mt Nicholas, she thought she was going on a tour, rather than heading to her new home, having not realised it involved a boat trip across the lake.
Since then, she has learnt to ride a horse, got a dog and become immersed in daily station life.
Although she missed her family and friends in Germany, and family occasions such as Christmas, she was very happy.
With 12 people living on the station, there was always ''traffic'' and regular get-togethers. She was often busy preparing for the arrival of, or hosting, tourists and it never felt isolated, she said.
