He Tangata: Liz Lyons of Aucky Walky guided tours

Liz Lyons introduces visitors to a nikau palm.

Elisabeth Easther talks to Liz Lyons, of Aucky Walky guided tours.

I'm a fourth-generation Aucklander. I grew up in Mt Albert with teachers for parents, and they were both avid travellers. Summers were spent at the family bach at Onetangi on Waiheke and from Mt Albert, it took five hours to get there, door to door.

We'd catch a bus into town, then take the slow, slow ferry with all our food. I remember being 7 or 8 and carrying a huge backpack loaded with baked beans and tomato sauce. In winter we'd go on road trips. Mum and Dad just loved putting us in a car and driving for six hours a day, mainly in the North Island. I do remember one horrendous journey to Coober Pedy in Outback Australia. My parents had a fascination with underground houses, and they wanted to take us to mass in an underground church.

We caught an overnight coach from Adelaide and hit a kangaroo. I remember the coach rolling and feeling like we were going to die. Escaping the bus, we sat in the middle of the desert and waited ages for help. The kangaroos were dim shapes in the dark, there would've been snakes and it was freezing. So even if you promise me free opals, I'm never going back.

My parents were frugal travellers and in the 1970s we sailed from Australia to Auckland on a Russian cruise ship. The crew were tearful, just miserable and below decks stunk of sewage. I nearly drowned when they started draining the pool while I was still in it and I couldn't reach up to the ladder. Eventually someone reached down and pulled me out, coughing up water.

At 19, I took myself down to Outward Bound at Anakiwa. I'd pictured a month's sunbathing in the Marlborough Sounds, not 6am jogs, three-day slogs and capsizing kayaks in the chilly Pelorus. Exhausted, the highlight was three days solo in the bush. Until a knife-wielding pig hunter crashed into my washing line late one night. But it taught me a valuable lesson - never hang your undies across a track.

Because I was busy building my career, I never did the Kiwi OE so when I was about 21, I jumped on an 18-35 package tour. Turning up at the meeting point in London, I find out the tour company had booked me with a South African high school group. I'd been hoping for a little romance but no and I have this distinct memory of being at a strip show in Amsterdam, sitting beside a 16-year-old from Johannesburg with braces.

I travelled widely for work, and going to Japan for business was mind-blowing, being wined and dined by local business people. My most bizarre meal ever was in a fishing restaurant in downtown Tokyo. It was laid out with faux canals and bridges, a little Venice in Tokyo and we walked along these dinky arched bridges with fish swimming below us.

We were given fishing rods and bait to catch our dinner, and I'm standing there alongside chain-smoking Japanese businessmen and what struck me was how serious people were about it, quite competitive. After three whiskys,I gave up.

Having been in marketing for 25 years, I found myself at a career crossroads, and I realised I wanted to be in charge of my destiny. After doing some walks tourism research, I discovered walks tourism was really underdeveloped in Auckland. We've got six operators here compared to Melbourne where there are 59. We've got 270,000 visitors cruising into port every summer, yet very few do a paid walk with a professional guide.

So I hopped on a plane and did the best walk experiences in Sydney and Melbourne. I trawled through Tripadvisor's walks for Milan, New York, London, Paris, looking for insights, common themes. What I learnt is that people like legends and landmarks, and they want to walk with a local and have a few laughs. Offering short, guided walks for small groups, combined with a bit of public transport, we help visitors find their feet. And the best thing about it is seeing my city through different eyes. I have a whole new appreciation of my hometown.