The Team
Our host, Scott Hillier is joined on Creek to Coast each
week by camping fanatic Martin Bowerman, camp oven cooking
specialist Frank "Tommo" Thompson, boating and
fishing guru Gary Howard, and fellow outdoor enthusiasts
Dean Miller, Richard Champion, Taryn Onofaro and surfer Liz
Cantor.
Scott Hillier - Host
 If Creek to Coast had
to nominate the program’s
equivalent of the class clown, there’s no question
that Scott Hillier would get the nod. But
that’s not using the term "class clown" in
a negative sense. It’s in that "lovable larrikin" way.
Scotty is irrepressible; his humour, his friendliness and
his absolute enthusiasm for every day life and living seem
to know no bounds.
Television viewers have taken to Scott’s natural and
unpretentious style of TV story telling. Reeling in a big
game fish for the cameras as host on Creek to Coast,
or before that on Brownie’s Coastwatch, Scott
would holler, yell and whoop it up, his delight saying more
than any detailed how-to-fish guide could.
But that’s how Scott is, and how he’s always
has been, ever since he could toddle over the sand dunes
to the beach from the family home on the Sunshine Coast when
he got his first "foamy" (surfboard) at age 5.
Originally Scott studied for a career in hospitality and
spent a few years as a recreation supervisor at a swanky
Sunshine Coast resort. But, he eventually needed to be closer
to the water, and joined the Queensland Boating and Fisheries
Patrol as a patrol officer.
These days, Scott has a stack of media commitments in addition
to Creek to Coast. His fishing reports and are heard
on McQuarie Regional Radio in Townsville. He’s also
on Seven’s Local News in Townsville and Carins every
Friday, and he contributes fishing reports to The Courier-Mail
and the Cairns Post.
Although born and bred on the Sunshine Coast, Scott now
lives in Ingham with his wife Helga, and two sons Bailey
and Ben, who’ve also inherited their dad’s love
of the water.
Scott appears as host for Creek to Coast every
Saturday.
Martin Bowerman
 Queenslander, Martin Bowerman has
traveled all over the world, the majority of the time
carrying a tent and a fishing rod.
He started work as a journalist at The Courier Mail,
and then a few years later took off to work in London
and backpacked his way, with a tent of course, through
Europe, Turkey and Morocco.
He is an accomplished author of fishing and camping
books, and brings his knowledge of these subjects to Creek
to Coast each week.
Martin lives on the Gold Coast and is married with
two children, Melissa and Scott. |
Frank "Tommo" Thompson
Tommo, as he is better known, is a legendary
camp oven cooking specialist who has published several books
on the subject.
Tommo’s life has been one big adventure. After moving
from Harden to Forbes to Mungindi with the family as a child,
Tommo was educated in Sydney. Leaving school, Tommo worked
in the shearing sheds, firstly as a rouseabout, then as a
shearer.
Tommo’s recipes have been gathered from the hundreds
of jobs, and the many different people he has met across
Australia in his travels.
Tommo travels Australia presenting his camp oven cooking
skills at all the major Caravanning and Camping shows, where
his camp oven treats and bush yarns have the crowds begging
for more.
You can catch Tommo’s camp oven cooking adventures
Saturday on Creek to Coast.
Gary Howard
Gary Howard is Creek to Coast’s fishing
and boating specialist.
His passion for fishing has taken him from the remote regions
of the Kimberley and Northern Territory, to the quiet streams
of our inland waterways and the yellow fin tuna grounds of
Bermagui. However, the waters of South East Queensland remain
his primary fishing areas, with Fraser Island being his favourite.
In addition to Gary's television work, he's had an extensive
career writing for many boating and fishing magazines and
filing reports for various radio programs.
Outside his media commitments, Gary runs his own fishing
rod manufacturing business, supplying quality fishing rods
throughout Australia and parts of the South Pacific.
Gary lives in Brisbane and is married with a young son Riley
and daughter Renee and appears on Creek to Coast every
Saturday.
Taryn Onofaro
 Reporting
on Creek to Coast given Taryn Onofaro the opportunity to
embrace her zest for life and discover more of Queensland,
which became her home in January 2001 when she relocated
from Perth.
From the moment she could walk, Taryn was dancing. Trained
in classical, jazz, tap, neo-classical and acrobatics, Taryn
looked set to follow in the footsteps of her dancing mother,
grandmother and aunt.
In her late teens, Taryn decided to pursue her interest
in media, enrolling in a broadcasting course at the Western
Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
During this time Taryn started working as a radio announcer
at 6EBAFM, co-presenting and producing breakfast radio. She
also appeared in television commercials, did voice-over work,
and was one of the faces on community television station
Access 31 in Perth, before she moved to Brisbane for commercial
television opportunities.
Taryn loved the outdoors. She’s travelled around America,
parts of Asia and Europe. Since starting work on Creek to
Coast, Taryn has more than proven her abilities and fearlessness
covering stories on everything from offshore angling and
diving to four wheel driving.
Taryn appears every Saturday on Creek to Coast.
Dean Miller
 Queensland
Weekender host Dean Miller is a surfer, fisherman, 4WD and
camping fanatic who gets to combine his love of all things
outdoors when he presents stories on Creek to Coast.
Dean is well-known to south east Queenslanders as a result
of his extensive radio work on Triple M Brisbane’s breakfast
show, the Gold Coast’s SEA FM, 4BC and RIVER 94.9.
Dean’s first fishing experiences were mixing it up
with Giant Trevally and Barracuda off Groote Eylant in the
Golf of Carpentaria. 4WD is a passion these days as Dean and
his family love to visit Double Island Point, Moreton and
Fraser Islands, and camping or renting a beach house.
Dean is the very proud father of two gorgeous young kids,
a daughter Jordan and a son Harrison.
You can catch Dean on Creek to Coast every Saturday.
Richard Champion
 Richard
Champion or ‘Champs’ as he is better
known, has had a football career spanning 14 years,
including 10 years with the Brisbane Bears / Brisbane Lions
before his retirement at the end of the 2000 season.
Champs has a multi-talented personality, always prominent
in the club's off-field activities and, in 1998 won an AFL
Talent Show on Network Seven for his marvelous impersonation
of Jimmy Barnes.
That singing talent was put to good use when Champs competed
in the popular Seven program “It Takes Two”.
You can also catch Champs on a variety of radio shows, but
on Creek to Coast he shines as an action and adventure
man.
There is no challenge that Champs has backed away from and
his competitive nature and high level of fitness make him
an obvious choice for the tougher assignments.
Champs loves golf, and intends to call Brisbane home for
many years to come with his wife Anne-Marie and daughters
Georgia and Grace.
Liz Cantor
 After
a whirl wind year in 2005 which saw Liz beat 12 other contestants
to win Channel 7’s reality show “The Mole”,
the self confessed water baby has become a favourite on both
Creek to Coast and The Great South East.
At 16 Liz moved with her family from west of Brisbane to
Sunshine Beach, Noosa. This saw her say goodbye to her obsession
for horse riding and focus on her surfing. Both her father
and brother are surfers and Liz was introduced to the ocean
before she could walk. She gained a sponsorship from Billabong
and was a competitive surfer on the Australian Junior Series
for five years.
During this time Liz also found a part time job as a surf
judge, and became the first female judge on a World Circuit
Tour level. Through her surfing Liz traveled to Fiji, Tahiti,
The Maldives, Hawaii and Europe.
Liz still tries to surf everyday, but after competing a
Bachelor of Communications at Griffith University her gift
of the gab, love for writing and strong interest in Media
and Journalism saw her follow a different path.
These days when Liz isn’t working for Creek to Coast or The Great South
East, or presenting the Queenslander surf report, she loves to escape for a weekend
of camping and surfing.
Liz lives for adventure and isn’t afraid to get her hands
dirty!
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