34 km (42 minutes by car – 2 hours on bike)
The start of the Heaphy Track at Brown Hut is about 34 kilometres from Collingwood. The road is sealed to the Langford Store at Bainham, but the last 15 kilometres is a gravel road. All river crossings are now bridged and the unsealed road is well maintained.
There is a free phone at Brown Hut to contact transport providers in Collingwood and Takaka, but there is no cell phone reception. There is an unsecured car park at Brown Hut and the hut doesn’t have gas-cooking facilities.
View & Download Printable Topographic MapRelated: Collingwood | Brown River Hut & CampsiteThe historic Langford Store is an interesting place to stop for an ice cream, a coffee, or to pick up last-minute items on the way to the start of the Heaphy Track.
A post office was opened at the goldfield settlement of Riverdale on 1 July 1896. As a Riversdale already existed in Southland it was necessary to use a new name, so the surnames of two settlers, Messrs. Bain and Graham, were compounded to produce the name Bainham. A telegraph office was established at Bainham on 8 September 1898 and John Bain was appointed postmaster and telephonist.
It is not known who designed the store building, but it was built in 1928 and the earlier post office building was also moved from across the road to its present site behind the Langford Store.
Source: The Langford Store and Heritage New Zealand