Tall outback tales: how one man’s disappearance haunts the landscape at Larrimah

In Australia's dead heart, telling yarns about the many ways to die in the bush is practically a pastime

We're only part way through our first cup of tea and a series of anecdotes about goannas, when Karl Roth disappears. While we wait for his return, we chat to his wife Bobbie about the palms and frangipani in their garden. How have they managed to tame this harsh landscape into something so orderly and colourful, we ask. It's a question that comes up every time we come here.

We're several years into our investigation of the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty from the 12-person town of Larrimah, 500km south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. It's a strange case; the stuff TV shows are made of. On 16 December, 2017, 70-year-old Paddy finished his last drink at the bright pink Larrimah Hotel, also known as the Pink Panther. He and his dog, Kellie, jumped on his quad bike to ride a few hundred metres home on the other side of the Stuart Highway. Nobody has ever seen them again.