Northern Territory Police have found a woman’s body at Trephina Gorge, east of Alice Springs, believed to be missing German woman Gisela Thor.

The discovery comes one day after the body of her 76-year-old husband, Wilfred Thor, was also found.

Sergeant Phil Emmett said photos taken by the pair on Friday — when they were last seen — showed them in good spirits.

“It’s such a sad end to what was obviously a lifetime of endeavour and planning to come and visit Australia. What a tragic end,” he said.

A ground and air search was launched on Sunday after a ranger found a car thought to belong to the couple, aged in their 70s, at Trephina Gorge, north-east of Alice Springs.

The ranger said the hire car had been there since Friday morning, and police on Monday confirmed the body of a 76-year-old man had been found.

Over the weekend, temperatures soared to 40 degrees in the area and officers had searched the couple’s hotel room and found “important medication”.

The couple arrived in Australia at the start of the month and hired a car from the Alice Springs airport on February 9.

Sometime in the next day, they drove more than 70km east to Trephina Gorge.

A helicopter was sent to scour the area while police, SES personnel and a park ranger searched on foot, motorbikes, quad bikes and with dogs.

Authorities are trying to contact the next of kin.

-AAP