A BRAZEN hit and run on Monday has left a German backpacker without a car, and no means of leaving Mildura with her belongings.

Twenty-eight-year-old Annika Bitai-Balyko bought a 2011 Holden Cruze and drove from Sydney to Mildura four months ago.

It's the first car she's ever owned, and she said it was part of her Australian dream.

On Monday afternoon that dream turned into a nightmare, as she ...