They were three friends who set out from Australia's red centre on the adventure of a lifetime.

Five days later, they were dead.

Tim Thomson, 31, Karen Edwards, 23 and Gordon Twaddle, 21, left Alice Springs hoping to experience everything the outback had to offer, from the dirt, dust and sand to its raw beauty and vast openness.

Astride motorbikes, the trio took off on September 30, 1978, with nothing but road stretched before them.

They had no plan mapped out, no itinerary. Their only goal was to make it home to Melbourne by Christmas and celebrate with family and friends.

But they never did. Their trip of a lifetime lasted less than a week.

The best mates simply vanished from a Mount Isa caravan park and their bodies were discovered 19 days later in a dusty water course 12 kilometr

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