Nursing graduate Lydia Mainey is proof that higher education can broaden horizons. In her case it has led her into a war zone and, more recently, towards a wedding ceremony.

Originally from Armidale but with a home-town allegiance to Rockhampton, Lydia trod the boards of the Pilbeam Theatre as a keen singer in music theatre productions and took part in triathlons as a keen athlete.

Lydia Mainey shows a degree is a passport

She started a psychology degree in Brisbane but returned to complete nursing at CQU Rockhampton instead.

"Mum who is a registered nurse and midwife said she loved her job - it's taken her from NSW to Queensland - and said there'd be lots of opportunities so I should give it a go," she said.

Lydia then gained her emergency nursing experience and qualifications at the local Base Hospital before moving on to the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane and working via agencies for other major hospitals.

With skills in demand the world over, Lydia decided to get a working visa for the United Kingdom. She started in London and then moved to Northern Ireland but found job prospects were few when she arrived in Scotland.

So she helped to fund her travel bug by signing up for a 10-week stint, contracted to Frontier Medical as an emergency nurse supporting British troops in Iraq from August to September last year.

"I rang them on a Thursday and was in Iraq within 2 weeks," Lydia said. "I learnt a whole lot about myself and about nursing in that situation - you see how brave you really are".

The former Rocky girl found herself working in a compound near Basra, where it was quite common for rocket-propelled grenades and mortars to be "lobbed over the fence".

"They have 2 big antennas in the compound that look like footy goalposts with red lights on the top so all they have to do is aim for them ... there were a few hairy situations."

She remembers on one occasion she was outside with a group of colleagues playing guitar and drinking Coke. A shell whistled over, landed about 200m away and showered everyone with dirt and shrapnel.

"Being the clear-headed person I am l jumped straight over my armour and ran away and had to crawl back and collect it later on.

"Another time I was working on night-shift in emergency and they started hurling lots of mortars at us ... no-one could come up and there was an injured person in the hospital that needed help from more than just a couple of nurses but no-one could move ... luckily I had a job to do and you flick back to your nursing role and you don't think 'Oh my God there's lots of bombs!' and you just concentrate on what needs to be done."

Lydia notes that the environment was dangerous but the workload quite low - sprained ankles and sore feet were the most common ailments - giving her plenty of time to get to know her co-workers socially. That's how she came to met British nurse Duncan Bray - now her fiance (The wedding's due next August in Clanfield, UK, down the bottom near the Isle of Wight).

After returning to the UK, Lydia was able to use the money gained in Iraq to complete a Diploma of Tropical Nursing at the London School of Health and Hygiene.

And then in November last year, Lydia and Duncan started travelling back to Australia, going overland via St Petersburg and Singapore before flying back to Rockhampton.

Lydia has lately been working on a casual basis at Rockhampton Base Hospital emergency department (the casual workload was designed to give the couple time to meet relatives and to travel within Australia).

Lydia and Duncan were also part of a CQU-led contingent of expert nurses involved in the Military Health Skills Training Project in The Philippines during the first half of April*.

(*CQU's Centre for Professional Health Education attracted funding from Australia's Defence Department to deliver specialist training to nurses in the Philippines Armed Forces. The team was deployed to provide intensive combat casualty training to 30-40 registered nurses in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.)