Two young Chinese tourists chasing adventure in Australia have been found dead inside a car in Queensland floodwaters, leaving their families shattered.

Qingwei Qiu, 26, and Yuchen Guo, 23, were driving from Brisbane to a farm in Gayndah when they suddenly went silent in the Kilkivan area —inland between the Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg — on Sunday.

Friends said Qiu, who had been speaking with them daily, abruptly stopped responding to messages.

Guo’s father, Jianxiang Guo, also noticed her AirTag stopped updating its location.

Their silver Subaru Forester was located on Wednesday afternoon, before police confirmed two bodies had been found inside the vehicle the following morning.

7NEWS.com.au understands the pair met online in a working holiday group chat and had shared the first leg of their trip north from Sydney.

Jianxiang said his world collapsed after learning the news on Thursday.

“Both of our families are shattered,” he told 7NEWS.com.au.

He said his daughter came to Australia from China’s Shandong province in September after graduating from university, chasing her dream of travelling.

She had just finished her first job in Sydney and was heading to Queensland for her second.

Guo’s heartbroken father described her as “a bright, kind, and incredibly brave girl who loved life and always had a beautiful smile”.

“On March 7, she posted that the rain was extremely heavy and she could barely see the road,” Jianxiang said.

“They must have had real guts (to keep driving).”

Qiu’s friend of almost 10 years, Yongqi Xie, said he had always been an adventurous person.

Despite being only 26, Qiu had enlisted in the military, opened a bar in China and ridden a motorbike from Fujian province to Lhasa, a journey of nearly 2800km.

Xie said Qiu arrived in Australia from Fujian at the end of last year and had been sharing photos from his road trip with a group of friends.

“We talked every day,” Xie said, adding the group realised something was wrong when his last message was sent at 3.40pm on Sunday.

“He loved cars and seemed to make new friends everywhere he went,” Xie said.

“He was easygoing and got along with everyone.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help their families bring the two backpackers home.

Some of the heaviest rain fell on Sunday afternoon and into Monday morning across the Wide Bay, Central Highlands and Burnett regions.

The Bureau of Meteorology said minor flooding was occurring along the Mary River at Dagun Pocket and Gympie, close to Kilkivan where the pair’s car was found.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig told the ABC the pair’s deaths were an “absolute tragedy”.

“These people have come to Australia to see our beautiful country … and tragically they’ve ended up losing their lives,” he said.

“We’re very grateful that they chose to come and see our country and we’re so sorry for their loss and the pain that [family members] are now feeling.”

Hartwig said tourists need to be better educated about the dangers of floodwaters.

“We warn people about biosecurity when they come into the country, but I also think we need to warn them about the dangers of floodwaters,” he said.

“Giving tourists an understanding that if it’s flooded, forget it — do not drive into any water that’s over the road.

“Getting that message to tourists … is an essential thing the federal government should start to look at.”