You Can Wear My Hat

Water Taxis are kind of funny.  They are all fun until you end up doing them day after day, to the same places over and over, in the middle of summer with Moron Recreational Boaties carving you up wherever you go in the bay. 

The problem with Cam driving is he's velociphobic... Terrified of travelling at speed...

So what can you do to keep yourself interested?  How can you take something as mundane as a taxi run through the bay and add interest?  Even give the passengers something interesting, something more than what they’ve paid for (I.e the mass transit of half their household goods out to their island holiday?)

Simple.  Let someone else drive for a while.

25 degrees, middle of summer... The earmuffs are definitely a fashion statement!

It gives you a nice break, if nothing else.  It is also brilliant for seasickness sufferers, as it takes their mind off being on a boat because they’re driving the boat.  If it’s a cold day, same effect. 

A week camping on Urupukapuka Island... But when he writes about what He did on his holiday, the Camping trip will be a footnote...

Best of all, kids, being dragged out camping for their school holidays, usually against their will, find it a pleasant distraction.  It’s also one back at their parents, usually because Dad’s been drooling over the outboard ever since he saw it and has been begging for a drive, and you let their kids have a go instead.

His Daddy's down the back dribbling over the motor

The downside, though, is kids are easily distracted and prone to turning the wheel to follow wherever they are looking!  So when Mum calls out from behind them to smile for the camera and they look around, there’s that brief Heart-In-Mouth moment, followed by the desperate scramble to get the boat back on course!

Despite polite requests, and then begging, I didn't get a dinner date!

Small price to pay, though, for giving customers value for money, or, as Toni calls it, the Feel Good Factor.  Passengers on taxi runs I do are not just a number, not just a figure in this month’s profit and loss column.  They are good value, genuine people, who deserve good value in return.  Even if they are taking most of their house out camping with them!

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