G'Day Jeff,
I'm not sure I'm following you. If the Moon is low in the West (even if you can see it) Venus is high at the Zenith, roughly. Venus it's visible after 6pm high in the West not in the East. I would make sure to have the correct coordinates and time. Even better I would do a proper star alignment before doing anything else.
MHO, I've been proved wrong before.
Cheers,
John