Terri Lake

Hi, I’m Terri, a Melbourne girl, who has an innate passion for travel. At 19, my love for wildlife and photography led me to embark on my first solo adventure – volunteering at a game reserve in South Africa. I learned the local Xhosa greetings, absorbed knowledge from our guides, tracked lions and elephants daily, and forged friendships with fellow volunteers from around the globe. That was a decade ago and my love for travel was only just taking flight.

At 21, I visited 8 European cities with a friend before parting ways in Amsterdam to set off for a 2-year working holiday in the United Kingdom. Without realising when planning this trip, in 1989, my mum moved to London at the same age. Having travelled to over 40 countries, her love of travel has certainly influenced me.

When my mum visited me in London, we travelled to new destinations together and reunited with her old friends, including the family she had worked for as a nanny in 1989-90. This experience taught me the invaluable nature of the connections we make while travelling. I am lucky to have experienced this personally, as I’ve met up with fellow travellers in different countries and even attended their weddings years later.

After living in London for some time, I craved a change of scenery and chose to work in the vibrant surf town of Newquay, Cornwall. Little did I know, this is where I would meet my future husband. Although I had already organised a 2-year working holiday in Canada, he took the chance to join me on the adventure. We spent our time working in Banff National Park where our daily walks felt like a fairytale, surrounded by falling snowflakes and roaming deer and elk amid towering mountains.

Today, we are living in Melbourne, just a 15-minute drive to the airport which makes travel a breeze. The goal is to travel to at least 2 new countries each year – currently at 23 and counting!