After the beach comes a pile of work

Carley Allinson started the Shack on Boxing Day and now makes 150 burgers a day. Photo / Sarah Ivey

When Carley Allinson moved to Great Barrier Island from the Auckland North Shore she thought she'd spend her days sunbathing on the island's stunning white sand beaches.

But after a month she got bored and, over the following 16 years, has found herself working in dozens of different roles from administration in the local school and bank, to sales, catering and even as a wedding planner.

Now, she's making about 150 hamburgers a day.

Mrs Allinson is as busy as ever running her new business, the Burger Shack, which opened on Boxing Day.

In the short break she had in the early hours of New Year's Day, Mrs Allinson slept on a mattress outside the shack, catching up on some much-needed rest. Two others took over inside before she continued what stacked up as her first 24-hour service.

Some businesses on the island are finding it slower this year as the recession keeps some of the Aucklanders who usually travel to the Island away, but Mrs Allinson hasn't stopped.

"It's better than expected," she said. "It's like, 'Oh my God, I've created a monster'."

Like many people on the Island who want to work, Mrs Allinson has taken up dozens of different roles. She is an experienced cook and is also a wedding planner.

"Anyone who's got a job here has got seven," she explains.

"You just put your hand to anything, really ... If you want to work, there's work here, but you've got to want to do it, really."

Her husband, Archie Allinson, runs Barrier Earthmovers, a contracting company that snowballed after he bought a digger he had to learn to drive to make his own driveway.

He now employs between three and eight staff, depending on work.

Aside from the burger-making, Mrs Allinson is organising 16 weddings she has coming up between now and March.

"That's the most I've ever done," she said.

"People used to go to Fiji to get married. But I think the coup put a few people off. And why not? I mean you've got beautiful paradise right here anyway."

Island life can be isolated, but Mrs Allinson says she heads back to what the Islanders call "the Mainland" once a month for some shopping.

"One of the stipulations was I had to go back to town once a month. And I still do, 16 years later."