Venetia comes from a long line of women who share her name - four generations, in fact. Though her family is Irish, the name has Latin origins and is linked to the city of Venice. It was a place that held special meaning for her mother, who had always dreamed of visiting Italy.
When Venetia was 15, her mother sadly passed away from cancer, but not before Venetia made a promise - she would visit Italy when she turned 18. “I travelled to Italy and visited Venice when I was 20. I loved going to the famous Murano Glass factory,” she said, smiling at the memory.
That trip was just the beginning. Venetia once walked New Zealand’s challenging Milford Track and thought Hawaii was absolutely beautiful - but felt the waves were bigger in Australia.
Her adventures took her even further. “Cuba was fascinating and the women wore such beautiful gowns.” In the Middle East, she joined an archaeological excavation and in Israel, she met a Franciscan Priest living there from Waverley, Australia.
“While in Peru, I ended up in hospital after being bitten by a spider at Machu Picchu - but in the end I was ok," Venetia recounted, quite matter of factly.
Venetia’s favourite destination was Rwanda. As a child, she had been appalled by the treatment of a gorilla at the zoo. “I was 12 and told the manager he ought to be ashamed. I said, ‘When I’m a big girl, I’m going to live with the gorillas, and my father said I could go.’”
At 30, she finally saw them in the wild. “When I got to Rwanda, I met an American girl and we decided to travel together. I was told it wasn’t very safe as there was a civil war about to start but some local guides said they could take us to see the gorillas - and off we went!”
“I saw a ginormous gorilla running down the hill and was told to sit still and not move - and I managed to take a photo of him. Then a baby gorilla came up to me and tugged at my shirt, before its mother whisked it away. It wasn’t safe, but I wasn’t scared.”
Looking back, Venetia has no regrets. “Travelling is one of the most wonderful things and I’ve had a very adventurous life.”
%20Luxe-Taylor%202.webp)
