Mick Turnbulls farewell party in Umalas Bali

Since living in Bali I have met a great assortment of people from all over the world who have come to Bali for a variety of reasons.

One of the first expats I met was Mick Turnbull from Australia who has been living in Bali for 3 ½ years now. Mick works for Cathay Pacific and has got a pretty sweet situation out here with his 2 storey villa, great weather, plenty of free time and lots of friends.

Well his contract finally expired and after negotiating a new situation in Osaka Japan it was time to move on. Mick is a doer, he gets out and makes things happen. His reputation as a partier is legendary so much so that Cathay sent him an official message complaining that the maintainence costs of the house were due to ‘loud music, high volume of visitors and round the clock partying’. That’s our boy!

With such a track record it was only fitting that we had a going away party and people flew in from as far away as Jakarta specially for the event.

I got to his house in Umalas at 7pm and shortly afterwards people started to arrive. Mick has guests from Surabaya staying who are Cathay employees and it was great to see so many Indonesians showing up.

An Indonesian buffet had been prepared by caterers and the ‘Esky’ was overflowing with drinks. Housekeeper Wayan ran around trying to keep people happy and make sure Mick had a chance to mingle.

When the signal was given for the food it was a like a pack of piranhas attacking a corpse. Fortunately there was so much food that everyone got plenty. I enjoyed some chicken satay, grilled fish along with other items and about a pound of rice.

Familiar faces were intersperced with new ones and we were all there to celebrate our friendship with Mick. As long as I’ve known him he has always been a stand up bloke who looks out for his friends. Hard to find people like that everyday.

I asked Mick about the guest list. I often make fun of his extensive list of lady friends and wondered if some people might be left out. Mick told me he invited everyone and said they can fight about it and as he’s leaving he’s not going to worry about personality clashes.

Mick will be flying to Australia to get his knee fixed and then hopefully start his new position in Japan. One of the mini ceremonies we had was signing his plaster cast… he seemed game for this.

After people had finished and got plenty of free drink inside them we moved on to Liquid in Seminyak, a bar that Mick has made home base over the last couple of years. He arranged for us to get the top floor and bought a case of vodka (his favourite). Each table was set up with vodka, mixers and limes. Our group got larger as the night went on with people letting loose on the dance floor. I tell you Indonesians are fun to go out with as they just don’t seem to have as many hang ups as westerners.

When I think of why Mick is so popular I come up with many reasons and one is that his energy creates the occasion. He often arranges motorbike trips, bbq’s, parties and other gatherings, the Rugby World Cup Final was a good example. Not only is his place suited to large groups with the pool etc. but Mick takes the initiative and makes something happen. I could learn from this. Its one thing to show up for events but creating an event is really what I should aim for. I hope my bbq’s will attract good people.

My night ended sometime round 2am but the diehards weren’t quitting till sun up. I dropped round Mick’s today and he was nursing a huge hangover, so was half the Cathay Pacific staff in Indonesia.

Final farewell to Mick will be included tomorrow.