Need to know for Christmas

Shopping hours

The Westfield Shopping Centres (Downtown, Glenfield, Manukau City, Pakuranga, St Lukes, Shore City, West City) are open from 9am-6pm today and closed tomorrow . The Downtown store is closed on Boxing Day; all others are open from 9am-7pm. All stores are open 10am-5pm on Tuesday.

Botany Town Centre is open 9am-6pm today, closed tomorrow, open 9am-7pm on Boxing Day and 9am-5.30pm on Tuesday.

Most major Queen St stores are open 9am-6pm or 10am-5pm today, and closed tomorrow, except for DFS Galleria (1pm-9pm). Dymocks (8.30am-6pm), Whitcoulls (10am-6pm) and Farmers (9am-7pm) are open on Boxing Day.


Cooking tips

Plan your menu and work out a cooking time plan which you can write down and stick on the fridge door.

Buy as many ready-made accompaniments as possible, like sauces and peeled vegetables, etc.

Start preparing Christmas lunch today. Peel the potatoes, make the dressing, defrost and clean the turkey.

Plan your menu. Keep it simple, don't have too many things to go through the oven on the day. Remember, if you are having a turkey, it takes a long time to cook.

Choose a simple starter, like soup, that just needs to be heated or an easily assembled cold dish.

Make sure the turkey is cooked half an hour before you want to serve it. This will give you time to make the gravy and to give the turkey time to relax before carving.

Or if all that fails, try and score a last-minute invitation to Christmas lunch where someone else does all the work. 


Traffic matters

From 6am tomorrow until 10pm on Sunday, January 8, the two northbound clip-on lanes on Auckland Harbour Bridge and the Curran St onramp will be closed to all traffic while resealing work is carried out.

If you are heading north over the next couple of weeks, Transit suggests that you watch for road signs south of the Silverdale offramp, which will give you an idea of the queues up ahead. An alternative route via State Highway 16 can be reached from the Upper Harbour Highway, Greville Rd or Silverdale exits or from the Northwestern Motorway, and rejoins State Highway 1 at Wellsford.


Public transport

For Stagecoach, Ritchies and Howick and Eastern buses, Sunday timetables will be observed on public holidays.


Entertainment in Auckland

Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World: Open every day from 9am-6pm daily. Last entry 5pm.

Auckland Zoo is closed tomorrow but will open on Boxing Day from 9.30am-5.30pm (last admissions at 4.15pm).

Rainbow's End theme park is closed tomorrow but will be open from 10am on Boxing Day.

Snowplanet indoor ski field, 91 Small Rd, Silverdale, is open every day from 10am.

Village SkyCity Gold Class and Queen St cinemas are open tomorrow.


Medical emergencies

White Cross and other emergency centres open as advertised in the Yellow Pages.

National Poisons Centre answers inquiries on poisoning and the toxic effects of chemicals. For free first-aid information on poisons go to the Toxinz website. 


Rubbish collection

Rubbish collections in Auckland will be a day late every day next week.