Tablelands Library Gourmet Tour

Thanks to Frances Utzinger, Tablelands Libraries Coordinator for organising a tour of three of the Tablelands Regional Council Libraries branches on Saturday 30 October. The Tablelands Regional Council area boasts 11 library branches, and we visited the Mareeba, Ravenshoe and Millaa Millaa branches. The day of the tour turned out to be a beautiful day for a drive in the country, and a stack of librarians (actually there were 17 of us, some from as far south as Townsville) began the day by meeting at the Mareeba Library branch.

The Mareeba Library branch is well known for being short of space, but thanks to the efforts of branch staff, every available millimeter of space is cleverly utilised. The result is an inviting resource for the Mareeba community. We can only hope that funding will come through in the near future for a new library building. I can imagine how much more the creative staff at the Mareeba Library branch could do for their users if they had more space to work with. I hope I get to visit a new Mareeba Library branch in the near future.

Next stop was Gallo Dairyland to begin the gourmet part of our tour for a reviving morning tea break. I work in a solo technical library, so chatting with librarians from the school, TAFE, academic, and public library sectors was even more delightful to me than my pot of tea and giant Florentine biscuit. Needless to say, with 17 of us, Gallo Dairyland rang with the sound of our voices.

From Gallo we visited the Ravenshoe Library branch. This branch is well laid out, and is truly lovely to visit. Every month the branch showcases different local art and crafts. Despite visiting on a weekend between displays we did get to see a sample of the local talent that wasn't on show. The branch is clearly run by some very dedicated and passionate staff.

From Ravenshoe we drove on to the Millaa Millaa Library branch which had closed for the day by the time we reached it. This is one of the smaller branches in the Tablelands Regional Council area. However, like all small branches in the service, a percentage of their stock is regularly turned over to keep it fresh for their users. This branch was also lovely to visit, and I can imagine retiring to the Tablelands and being very happy having Millaa Millaa Library as my local library branch.

By now we were all ready for our lunch at Mungalli Creek Dairy. Somehow they managed to squeeze us all in on the one long table, and we were served by the loudest and strangest, yet somehow funny waiter. The food had home made deliciousness, and once again we were a raucous group.

And so ended our tour of the Tablelands Regional Council Libraries branches. The day was successful for all, and thanks again to Frances Utzinger for going to the effort of organising the day. I look forward to the next library visit - maybe the Cairns TAFE Library would like to show off their redeveloped branch...?

Best wishes to all

Claire Ovaska

P.S. Apologies for my mediocre photography.