If, like me, you didn’t get to go away for a holiday over the Christmas season for whatever reason, you sometimes find yourself looking for a suitable spot within easy reach of Jozi to chill for a day. Kids do not take kindly to chilling around the house. Even their electronic devices cannot save them from terminal boredom. After doing some online research to come up with an appealing spot for a day out, Bass Lake Adventures became our spot of choice.
Bass Lake Adventures is at Henly on Klip, a mere 50 km from Jo’Burg. Whilst it is well known to the Scuba Diving fraternity, where many a diver has done open water training, it has also, in recent years, become popular as a picnic venue, camp spot, 4×4 training facility, and hiking venue. We packed the Jimny, bundled the kids into our vehicles and drove to Bass Lake for the day. The weather report looked favourable so a good day in the great outdoors was in the offing.
We parked the Jimny literally at the water’s edge and set up camp. Our Alu-Cab LT-50 rooftop tent was a great changing room to get into cozzies, and in no time the kids were frolicking in the water. We hired a small boat, and much fun was had by all, paddling around the lake. Again, the rooftop tent was such a pleasure! It gave us a comfortable vantage point, out of the sun, from which we could keep an eye on the kids.
The LT-50 rooftop tent is extremely lightweight, weighing a mere 50kg, which includes the mattress. Opening the tent is so simple, all you need to do is open the latches and push upwards, the gas struts then lift the tent into position. Closing the tent is ‘basically’ the same process just in reverse, you simply pull on the grab handle/rope, close it and then lock it.
This is the first time I am using the tent in a day trip environment, and I must say that being able to open/close it in seconds turns our already very versatile Jimny into an incredible go-anywhere family fun vehicle—it is now just so rigged for fun!
The Alu-Cab LT-50 rooftop tent is perfect for a daytime snooze spot away from crawling insects and offering respite from the sun.
Lunchtime quickly arrived, so it was time to use another very cool item fitted to our Jimny, enter Alu-Cab’s Rear Door Dropdown Table. With the door open you have a work surface conveniently located and at an ideal height, with an additional slide-out chopping board, making sandwiches outdoors has never been so simple—a great addition to our ultimate micro-overlanding beastie!
After lunch, we cleaned up all our mess and threw it away into our Alu-Cab Spare Wheel Bag which is conveniently mounted at the rear of the vehicle onto the spare wheel with straps.
Our cans were crushed down in size using Alu-Cab’s Can Crusher, which is also mounted on the spare wheel. Very simple little add-ons, but very useful when out camping/picnicking.
The beauty of all these features is that they are so easy to set up. They don’t roll around in the vehicle during transit and set up in seconds. It helps with the planning too. They are part of the vehicle, so you don’t get to your picnic or campsite to discover that you forgot your table or umbrella.
Whilst chilling up in my day bed, it got me thinking, watching the kids having such fun swimming, snorkelling and paddling, that the reason kids spend so much time on their phones and other devices, is because they don’t get out into nature enough. Allow them to have some good old-fashioned family fun time and they are all in.
Our Jimny once again proved what an amazing little vehicle it is. It runs me around Parkhurst and its surrounds, impervious to gnarly roads and potholes, it doubles up as a practical workhorse for ZA Bikers when out in the field creating content.
And then, with a few thoughtful add-ons, becomes the perfect family picnic partner. It is incredible how versatile the Suzuki Jimny ‘actually’ is!
After a long day of fun in the sun, it was a pleasantly weary yet happy family that drove back to the big smoke after an idyllic day in the fresh air.
For more information on Suzuki’s very versatile Jimny, visit: www.suzukiauto.co.za
