Let's take a quick trip back in time to 15 years ago... We were at the tail end of an 8 week camping holiday (our last big pre child excursion) around central Australia. The heatwave conditions in the red centre had convinced me that the wearing of a hat was a very sensible thing to do in order to avoid third degree sunburn. Over the course of the trip I had managed to demolish 2 or 3 cheap hats. On our homeward stretch we passed through Bendigo and happened to find a hat shop that sold genuine Akubra hats so as a spur of the moment thing I chucked the shattered remains of yet another cheap hat in the bin and wandered in. I wandered out shortly afterwards with a brand new Akubra perched proudly on my brow wondering whether it was a good investment. Fast forward 15 years to today. I am still wearing the same Akubra I bought at the Bendigo hat shop 15 years ago. What's more, I am back in Bendigo and standing in front of the very same Bendigo hat shop which is not only still in business but run by the same lady who served me 15 years ago. My old hat has been worn pretty much every day for 15 years and spent at least 12 of them looking pretty good but over the last few it has started to look a bit shabby (in answer to the "was that a good investment question" , the answer is a big yes) so it's time for a new one. The Bendigo hat Shop has a huge range. Not just the Akubra but straw hats, fedoras, trendy flat caps, fascinators and pretty much anything else you can perch on your head. The service is fantastic - the lady who has run the shop for the last few decades knows pretty much everything there is to know about hats and can pretty much pick your head size, and the styles that will suit you best, the moment you walk in the door. Even better she is a trained milliner (hat maker) and can adjust, pad or otherwise tweak your new hat to fit perfectly. I walked out with a nice new Akubra. My old one is now retired to gardening duty and will server me well for another 10 years at least. My wife walked out with two hats - a wide brimmed straw number (that she looks fantastic in) and a marvellous red cloche hat (that looks amazing on her) for winter. Even my son got in on the hat action with a new Fedora (he looks like a spotty youth in his but that's not the fault of the hat). read more