How do you test a roof rack awning? Well, the only way we could think of was to have one fitted to a 4WD, take it out into the country, and set it up.

What we wanted to know was how easy it would be to fit the Foxwing, how long it would take, and how quick it would be to set up once we’d reached our destination.

The answers came thick and fast – it was easy, in every conceivable way.

The Foxwing is made by Australia’s well-known Oztent company, renowned for making tents which are tough, practical, and very easy to put up.

So we expected the Foxwing to be just as easy – and we weren’t disappointed.

The Foxwing was shipped up to Auckland from Wellington by distributor Mofac Vehicle Systems, which is also distributor of Rhino roof racks, and a Rhino Sportz rack came with it to attach the Foxwing to, although it can be fitted to many other rack brands and profiles.

We took the whole lot to Papakura, just off SH1 to the south of Auckland, to elicit the help of Rhino-Rack dealers Auckland 4x4, at

Although not a difficult task at all, we reckoned it would be quicker if the experts did it – and at the same time there’d be no chance of our causing any damage to either the Foxwing, the roof rack, or the Nissan Pathfinder we had borrowed from Auckland dealer Schofield Nissan.

Sure enough, Auckland 4x4’s Jason Swan made it look easy as pie. The roof bars for the Rhino-rack were supplied in the right length to fit across the Pathfinder’s rails, and fitting them took just a few minutes.

Then special brackets to marry the Foxwing to the Rhino rack were bolted into position on the Foxwing, the whole thing offered up to the ends of the Rhino rails, and the brackets slipped straight into the Rhino extrusions as smooth as butter.

Jason tightened everything up, fitted the special locking caps onto the end of each cross bar (each one is locked in place with a key to prevent anyone stealing your stuff), it was all checked to ensure everything was tight, and we were good to go!

The whole thing took less than half an hour, and Jason reckons next time he’ll do it in even less – maybe as little as 10 minutes, now he knows how it all works. This was his first time for the Foxwing, although obviously he’s an expert with the Rhino racks.

All that remained then was to go out into the country and find a suitable place to set it all up.

Fortunately the weather played ball, and we were able to park next to the beautiful Pahurehure Inlet.

And what an eye-opener. From parking the Pathfinder to having the whole Foxwing set up ready to sit down and have a cold beer took about eight minutes, and that including putting in the poles and pegging down four guy ropes – enough for a windless day.

However if it’s windy there are another six ropes and pegs provided so you can really batten it down.

When in place the Foxwing provides shelter to almost one full side of the vehicle as well as the rear, even with the tailgate up, and there are accessory zip-on extension panels available to further enclose things.

The Foxwing is made from the same high quality material (rip-stop polycotton canvas) as an Oztent, and is UV protected, water proof and mould resistant. The solid frame consists of anodised aluminium and corrosion resistant hardware so it won’t rust.

All telescopic poles, guy ropes and pegs are included and come with their own travel bag, and it offers both sun and rain protection.

The only thing left to do was get out our table and chairs, pop a beer each, and settle back to enjoy what turned out to be the best day we’ve had in weeks.

Not. It was a working day, Jason had lots of work to do, and I had to rush back to finish off this month’s magazine.

Still it only took a few minutes to replace the Foxwing into its roof rack mounted case – that took about four or five minutes – and we were ready to leave.

The Foxwing is equally suitable for camping as it would be to provide lots of shade at your favourite beach for fishing, or just getting ma and the kids out of the summer sun.

And now for the good news – the Foxwing costs only $1,199, including GST.