Napier Local Serving-Up Success At Sea

They say an Army marches on its stomach but Napier local, Navy Leading Chef Chevy-Lee Morrison, knows that top-class kai is what keeps the Navy at sea.

Leading Chef Morrison has the often demanding task of helping to feed the sailors of the Royal New Zealand Navy. This weekend she will return to her hometown as part of the crew of HMNZS PUKAKI, who are supporting Art Deco 2012 celebrations.

From ordering, storing, preparing and cooking food for the ship’s company, to catering special functions that the ship is hosting, it is always busy in Leading Chef Morrison’s world, and she expects no different during Art Deco weekend.

“We never really get boring days in the Navy,” she says while preparing for the events in Napier. “I always love coming home and seeing my family, but to sail into the Port of Napier and parade in my ceremonial uniform through town, well that makes it extra special.”

Leading Chef Morrison spent all her secondary years at Flaxmare College, where she was a Peer Support Prefect, and was very active in the local sporting community. Since joining the Navy in 2005 her busy career has taken her through most of South East Asia, all around Australia and also to East Timor.

However Chevy-Lee’s heart still lies within New Zealand: “As much as I have sailed all the different sea lanes, and been to all the different ports around the world, now that I get to travel around the coast of New Zealand on PUKAKI, I have been able to see the most beautiful sights that our wonderful country has to offer.

“From the very top of the North Island, Three Kings, all the way down to Bluff, I’ve found there really is no place like home.”

Leading Chef Morrison will be in Napier on HMNZS PUKAKI for the duration of Art Deco. The ship is berthed in the Port from 16 – 21 February 2012.