One family gained from New Jersey’s government shutdown on Saturday — Gov. Chris Christie’s wife, their kids and their friends had one of the East Coast’s most beautiful beaches all to themselves.

The Garden State’s first family was set for an exclusive holiday at the official gubernatorial shore home at Island Beach State Park in Berkeley as police turned away everyone else.

Sound unfair? Deal with it, Christie told reporters.

“The governor has a residence at Island Beach,” he said. “Others don’t. That’s the way it goes. Run for governor and you can have the residence.”

The lame-duck governor himself spent Saturday in Trenton seeking to end the state budget standoff that brought about the whole mess.

Christie, a Republican, shut down the state government at midnight Saturday in a feud with the Democrat-led Legislature over his wish to overhaul the state’s largest health insurer.

State parks were closed. Even a group of Cub Scouts was forced to leave a camp site in Cheesequake State Park in Old Bridge.

DMV offices usually open on Saturdays were closed. If the shutdown continues into next week, nobody’s getting any new state permits or copies of marriage and birth certificates.

But the Christie family will have Island Beach State Park to themselves and their friends.

The isolation shouldn’t be a problem, Christie said on Friday, since his family won’t need any state help enjoying the six-bedroom clapboard house.

“I don’t know if it’s fair, but they’re not asking for any services,” Christie said.

Speaking to the New Jersey 101.5 radio station Monday, Christie said that he was looking forward to spending July 4 at the beach and that he expected “the whole family” would show up.

Oldest son Andrew was “flying in from Milwaukee” and “inviting a bunch of his friends down,” he told the show’s host.

“We will be fully loaded,” Christie said. “I don’t know how much sleep [wife] Mary Pat and I will be getting.”

Christie blamed the shutdown on state Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, a Democrat who wouldn’t go along with his plan to take surplus money from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.

“@GovChristie @VincentPrieto Thanks for ruining our vacation!” one woman tweeted with a photo of her camp setup being dismantled at Wharton State Forest.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said the if the shutdown continues, the city’s July 4 celebration will move to Exchange Place from Liberty State Park.

The shutdown is the state’s first since 2006.



With Post wires