Roma is a typical inland town: tidy, with streets lined with bottle trees (not only bottle-shaped but also full of sugary water for emergency stock-watering), and a slightly dated air lent by the iron decorations and wrapround balconies of its hotels. It also has a reputation for cattle markets - one day-long event saw over $1.6 million change hands; and every Easter there is a rodeo and carnival . Romavilla Winery has been producing prize-winning wine since 1863 - if you want to buy, it's about a kilometre north of town on the Carnarvon Road, at Quintin Street (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 9am-noon & 2-4pm; tel 07/4622 1822). For history buffs, Roma was also the venue for the 1871 trial of the audacious Captain Starlight (also known as Harry Redford), who stole a thousand head of cattle off a nearby property and drove them down through the South Australian deserts to Adelaide for sale. An unusual white bull in the herd was recognized and Redford arrested, but his pioneering of a new stock route won such popular approval that the judge refused to convict him.

The Warrego Highway runs through Roma as Bowen Street, and it's here on the eastern side of town you're greeted by the Big Rig , a drilling tower left as a monument to the oil boom of the 1920s, and beside it the information centre (daily 9am-5pm; tel 07/4622 4355). A landscaped bend in the river behind makes a good picnic spot if you just want a rest; for supplies, most of the town's shops, banks and businesses are one block north of Bowen on parallel McDowall Street . Roma's accommodation choices include Motel Carnarvon , 18 Northern Rd (tel 07/4622 1599 or free call 1800 621 155; $50-70), and the Starlight Motor Inn (tel 07/4622 2666; $70-90), which both offer standard motel beds; the Big Rig Caravan Park , 4 McDowell St (tel 07/4622 2538), near the Big Rig, has welcome hot showers available during sub-zero winter nights. Restaurants in Roma are fairly basic, though Deano's , at 77 Quintin St, does good steaks.

The train station is one block south of the highway on Station Street at the corner of Charles Street (tel 07/4622 9411), and the bus terminal is on Bowen Street by the BP roadhouse near the Big Rig. The airport is a small strip a few kilometres outside town. Tickets for all these can also be obtained from Maranoa Travel, 71 Arthur St (tel 07/4622 1416). Heading north, the Carnarvon Developmental Road (take Quintin St from the town centre) gives access to Carnarvon National Park; otherwise the next stops west along the highway are Mitchell and Charleville.