Australians are known for their passion for travel, but when a loved one goes missing overseas, it sets off an uncharted course for those back home.
What government agencies can do to help can have legal and practical limits, and knowing where to turn for help may feel like an overwhelming task.
The longer a person is missing abroad, the harder it gets for families dealing with ambiguous loss.
It's been one year since young mother Tahnee Shanks from North Queensland disappeared in Mexico and her family still has no idea what happened to her.
Advocates and those who've experienced a similar situation want to see better support to help families dealing with the unthinkable.
'What the hell do we do?'
Dianne and Jock Chambers had no idea where to start when their son Ryan disappeared 17 years ago while on a backpacking holiday in India.
Ms Chambers remembers getting the call from her son's travel companion in August 2005.
"Nobody anticipates you have absolutely no idea where to turn to for help … I turned to Jock and I said, 'What the hell do we do?'" Ms Chambers said.
"We had our son missing in a place that we had no idea where it was."
The pair immediately contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Mr Chambers flew to India to work with local police with the help of a translator.
"Police did what they could, and they had an armed guard in most cases because we travelled far and wide up mountains … all different places we thought Ryan might be," Mr Chambers said.
"After no body was found, it seemed like they lost interest."
As time went on, Ms Chambers said they drove the campaign themselves, putting out posters and contacting trekking companies to be on the lookout.
"You run out of ideas, energy, money," she said.
"From a support point of view, I have to say that we had none.
"You really feel like you are on your own."
Thirteen years after Ryan vanished, he was officially declared dead by South Australia's Supreme Court.
Where to start
It may not seem like the first place to start, but when contact is lost with a loved one overseas, people are urged to report them missing at their local police station in Australia.
Police then forward the information to the DFAT, which will communicate with overseas authorities.
Consular staff explain the process to families and may pass on information to external agencies like the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) which facilitates worldwide police cooperation or foreign law enforcement agencies.
Investigations and searches for missing persons are undertaken by the police in the country where the person went missing, in consultation with Interpol.
Interpol may issue a Yellow Notice — a global police alert for a missing person.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) also keep a database of long-term missing persons as part of their National Missing Persons Coordination Centre.
According to the AFP, "DFAT will be your primary point of contact and will keep you up to date with developments".
"However, privacy provisions operating in foreign countries can severely restrict the information provided to consular staff overseas by local enforcement agencies," the AFP states on its website.
Support for families
Depending on the circumstances of a disappearance, other organisations may be able to assist, like the Australian Red Cross International Tracing Service, which focuses on helping people separated by armed conflict or natural disasters.
Hostage International provides day-to-day emotional and practical support to those specifically affected by the kidnap or illegal detention of a loved one.
Kerry Jane Wilson is one of Hostage International's volunteer caseworkers based in Australia, working as part of a team to support those affected by hostage-taking and arbitrary detentions.
Ms Wilson, who was kidnapped while working for a women's non-government organisation in Afghanistan in 2016, said the charity worked with a pro bono network of psychologists, bankers, lawyers and insurance networks.
"It's not as though somebody planned to disappear, so back home there's chaos," she said.
"Everything down to their bank account, the mortgage, the kids, school fees and cancelled holidays."
Loren O'Keeffe helps people with missing loved ones at home and abroad through her charity The Missed Foundation (formerly known as the Missing Persons Advocacy Network).
Ms O'Keeffe established it in 2013 after the disappearance of her brother, whose body was found under the family's home in Geelong five years later.
Since then, she's supported more than 75 families, including Diane and Jock Chambers.
"When it happens overseas that's a whole other ball game," Ms O'Keeffe said.
She said missing person cases were a community-wide issue that governments should invest more into.
"It's a no-brainer … the [federal] government has been referring families to us … which is validating, but equally frustrating because we don't have the funds," she said.
Ms Wilson agreed support for families was lacking.
"It's a bit like a cancer diagnosis … you've got doctors and specialists … really good technical people all around you helping you," she said.
"But you need a support group, somebody who will hold your hand and cry with you and tell you, 'It's happened to me, but it will get better'."
The Chambers have since worked with The Missed Foundation on a project creating a deck of cards for distribution when someone goes missing, based on workshops and interviews with dozens of families across eight countries.
"The similarities of internal journeys that people have gone through … they know exactly how it feels," Ms Chambers said.
"I wish we had it sooner."
