Two bodies found in Far North Queensland

A Townsville couple have died after apparently slipping at a waterfall in Far North Queensland.

The couple were reported missing after failing to turn up to their respective jobs on Monday.

Their bodies were spotted by helicopter that night at the popular Kearneys Falls and recovered on Tuesday.

Cairns Police Detective Acting Inspector Ed Kinbacher said it seems the couple fell to their deaths after going for an early-morning swim.

"We believe this incident is a direct consequence of misadventure rather than any third party involvement," Insp Kinbacher said.

He said the area was dangerously slippery and off limits.

"It appears they have fallen, making the unwise decision to climb the quite steep falls, which were in fact closed above that swimming hole," he said.

He warned that wet granite rock and moss can be as slippery as ice.

"These waterfalls in North Queensland regularly claim lives," he said.

Media reports said the pair are Simon Walker, 24, and Sherei Anderson, 32.

Police don't yet know when the couple died.

Officers know they were in Cairns on Thursday, when the man picked his partner up from the airport as she returned from a holiday in Japan.

They were planning to camp for a few days before returning to Townsville.

Police don't know when the pair got to the camping site in the Goldsborough Valley near Kearneys Falls but suspect it was after dark on Thursday.

Insp Kinbacher said the tragedy was a "difficult set of circumstances" for the couple's families.

"Her family's had a tragic history recently, she's lost family members ... so it's a very sad story for that family," he said.

"And the young man, a 24-year-old in the military in Townsville, had his life to live."

The Kearneys Falls walking track and viewing platform are temporarily closed for maintenance work.