Muster Dogs presenter and narrator, Lisa Millar couldn’t wipe the huge smile off her face as she took part in a Reformer Pilates class earlier this month.
While morning exercise is just a regular part of many people’s schedules, it’s a luxury for the TV star after nearly five years of getting up at 3am to host News Breakfast on the ABC.
“I’m at a Pilates class at 8am! It’s a big deal!” Lisa tells Woman’s Day with a laugh.
While she’s still waking up in the wee hours out of habit – “That’s just so ingrained in me, because the alarm didn’t even have to wake me up, I was already awake” – Lisa insists, “The joy of knowing I can go back to sleep is fantastic!”
A NEW ADVENTURE
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Pulling the pin on breakfast TV in August wasn’t a decision Lisa made lightly, but she knows she made the right choice.
“I turned 55 in February and a friend of mine, her sister died too early and with the announcement that we were going to do the Muster Dogs: Where Are They Now special, it all just came together to make me think, ‘I actually feel like now is the right time to change my life up a bit,'” she says.
And the change has been even better than a holiday!
“2024 has been one of the best years of my life,” Lisa beams. “I’m just so happy.”
And she says a lot of it is down to her gig on Muster Dogs.
“I am just grateful every single day that the phone call came in, and because it’s such a beautiful world to be immersed in,” says Lisa, who shares that the ABC has nearly put season three – which will debut early in 2025 – to bed.
“And the puppies for [season] four have been born. There is definitely more Muster Dogs to come!”
First though, viewers will get to catch up with their favourite farmers and pups, from beloved season one winners Frank and Annie Finger in Clermont, Qld, to the charismatic duo Joni Hall and Chet in WA, Russ Fowler and Molly in Tasmania and season two winners Zoe Miller and Buddy in the NT.
In this week’s Where Are They Now special, fans will see how they’ve all been keeping busy since they competed to be crowned Champion Muster Dog.
“People love them all,” says Lisa. “I get random text messages from them, and find out what they’re up to. Joni is the kind of woman you want to go and get a beer with. She’s a scream.”
Lisa believes the key to the series’ success is that “we’ve kept it really authentic”.
“Viewers know that it’s real and that they aren’t being led astray by anything, not casting aspersions on any other reality shows,” she laughs.
“Series three is kelpies versus collies. The finale was probably the most emotional that I’ve been involved in. There were tears!”
“My mates say, ‘You seriously have the best job in the world right now!’ and I think, yes!”
The stunning countryside on display is another selling point.
“I love the fact that I get the opportunity to look at the stars at night and wake up in the morning on some of these properties where there’s just nothing – just silence. Or the slow creaking of a windmill,” says Lisa.
But for someone who grew up in the bush to film her show, there’s no longing to make a permanent move back there.
SHE’S A CITY GIRL NOW
“Some people thought after I quit News Breakfast that I’d move back to Queensland, but I’ve fallen in love with Melbourne – it’s home,” says Lisa.
It’s also where she’s built her very tight close-knit village.
“I love the network of friends I have. I’m pretty good at finding my people quickly,” says the TV presenter, who’s had to rely on them to keep a close eye on her inner-city apartment while she’s been away filming Muster Dogs and Back Roads.
“One of my mates who lives just down the road would very happily come along and water my plants and keep them alive for me,” she says.
But, ironically, there are no pets to feed.
“The funniest question I always get is, ‘Do you have a dog?’ And I’m like, ‘No, I can barely keep a plant alive, there’s no way I’m going to attempt to keep another being alive!'”
Especially as Lisa’s hardly ever home, even when she is in Melbourne!
“My best mate Leigh Sales rolls her eyes at the activities I get up to,” she says.
“I bought a fancy new couch with electric buttons and every time I look at it I say ‘Hello, couch. One day I look forward to sitting on you [laughs].’ I’ve got all the streaming services and never use them. I love being on the go.”
