Ah, Sydney in January. The sun takes on your slip-slop-slap efforts at every available opportunity. (Head on. And usually wins). Your thongs are melting into the pavement. Your iphone overheats quicker than a ghosting Tinder match. And your seatbelt doubles as a branding iron. If you’ve survived the long weekend scorcher, congratulations — you’re basically a heat-hardened legend. But don’t get too comfy yet, because with warmer weather scheduled to continue, a new Aussie esky is about serve up the ultimate Summer plot twist: ice-cold drinks delivered… by drone.
This Saturday, January 31, Dunningham Reserve at Coogee Beach will host the first-ever appearance of the Great Kodiak Drop Bear. Half Aussie myth, half tech marvel, and 100% cheeky, this airborne legend is here to solve one of summer’s greatest crises: warm drinks in the sun.
Picture it: you’re lying on your towel, sand sticking to your suncream-slick back, questioning your life choices while your mate complains about their lukewarm soda. Then you hear it — the gentle whirr of rotors above. You squint. Something hovers. And before you can say “where’s the nearest servo?”, an ice-cold Red Bull, Heaps Normal, or Posca Sparkling Prebiotic Soda lands in your hands. And it’s in a swish insulated tumbler you can actually keep. Forget lifeguards saving swimmers — this is the real Aussie hero moment.
It’s all thanks to ncooler and drinkware brand Kodiak, which has taken the humble esky and given it a bit of a sci-fi makeover: hard coolers with UVA protection, five-day ice retention, and insulated tumblers in three sizes. Basically, these are the kind of drinks containers that make you feel like you’re cheating summer while everyone else is melting. Founder David Yates calls the Kodiak Drop Bear “your new summer mate.” And honestly, if a mate could swoop in from the sky, saving you from tepid drinks while looking like a cheeky legend, we’d all sign up.
The Drop Bear itself is a tongue-in-cheek nod to our infamous mythical critters. But unlike its scary, tourist-shrieking cousin, this one brings refreshment, not panic. It’s a nod to everything we love (and sometimes hate) about Aussie summer: blinding sun, sticky sand, the smell of sunscreen, and the occasional chaos of forgetting your cooler at home. Think of it as the esky you wish existed when you were 12, trying to sneak a cold Fanta into your towel while Mum and Dad complained about the sand in the car.
The delivery window is short but glorious: 12pm to 1pm (or until supplies run out). That’s one hour of airborne refreshment, frosty tumblers clinking in the summer breeze, and everyone pretending they’re in some futuristic beach movie while secretly hoping no seagull makes off with their soda. You can even register ahead of time to make sure you get your hands on a drink — because nothing says “summer priorities” like queuing for a drone-delivered soda.
So, wander down to Coogee this Saturday, sunscreen smeared somewhere questionable, hair still sticky from last night’s beach bar adventures, and wait for the gentle whirr above. That’s not a UFO. That’s the Great Kodiak Drop Bear, landing like the true Aussie legend it is, making sure Sydney summers go down as they should: ridiculously hot, slightly chaotic, and gloriously chilled.
Because at the end of the day, whether it’s watching your mate attempt to eat a watermelon without losing half to the sand, or dodging rogue beach cricket balls, nothing beats the small victories — like ice-cold drinks descending from the sky.
