Three things with Lisa Millar: ‘I’m a toast burner from way back. It’s hereditary’

Lisa Millar is best known for co-hosting ABC News Breakfast, making guest appearances on Back Roads, and penning the memoir, Daring To Fly. She takes great pleasure in lending her voice to Muster Dogs, an ABC show that chronicles the journey of five graziers training border collie puppies to become champion musters. The heartening reality TV show is making a comeback for its second season on 14 January. Millar's initial foray into journalism was in her childhood, when she would interview her father, the National Party MP, Clarrie Millar. Today, she treasures the audio recordings of their interesting chats and also shares the backstories of two cherished personal items.

If her house were to catch fire, Millar would want to rescue her triathlon medal. Her second stint as a foreign correspondent in the US marked a departure from her former life of a married woman and a fear-ridden person who abhorred flying. After successfully tackling her crippling fear of flying, she felt invincible, agreeing to participate in an Olympic distance triathlon despite her lack of experience in racing bike and swimming. Despite the excruciating eight months' training, she managed to cross the finish line, making her cherish the medal not as a symbol of her sporting feat but as a testament to her victory over her longstanding fear.

One of her most practical possessions is a pair of bamboo toast tongs with an attachable magnet - a present from a friend that effectively put an end to her toast-burning episodes. She used to extract the burnt toast with the help of a knife.

Her third prized possession is an audio cassette of her interviewing her father in her childhood. Although she lost the cassette due to frequent relocations and mourned over its loss, she stumbled upon it while writing her memoir in 2020. She was glad that the valuable piece of memory was not lost in oblivion. Upon finding it, she got it digitized to relive her innocent childhood days and listen to her father's patient responses.

Season 2 of Muster Dogs will premiere on 14 January at 7:30 pm on ABC and iView.