About 12km from Eucla, I glanced across the plain ahead and thought I saw very low cloud rolling in from the sea. I could see the Hampton Tablelands slope down to the coast, with white streaks giving it the appearance of white cliffs. When I was about five kilometres from Eucla, I could see the road climb up to the township. I then realised that the white clouds were sand dunes which stretched along the coast; the white streaks on the slope of the tableland represented its merging into one huge dune!

The traffic was moderate again today, and the sun regularly broke through the cloud to help to take the edge off the wind. The effort against the wind made my backside sore again about 10km out of Eucla, and when I saw the hill, I decided to stop and muster my energy before tackling it. Just after I got back on the bike, I saw James heading towards me. He crossed the road to my side, waved and stopped. I stopped, too, and we chatted for the next 40 minutes.

James told me he had been on the road since 8 September, and he had made pretty good time from Canberra. I suppose we met about half way on our journeys, so I think I am doing fairly well myself when measured against his performance. He probably gets in more riding a day than I do. He has taken off five days to rest since starting, but he likes to find comfort when he can, and that includes staying in cabins at caravan parks.

James is an old hand at this long-distance cycle-touring business. He pedalled from Darwin to Perth, his home town, last year. I was a little surprised that he perhaps is not as well organised as I am, although I did not say so. He has a Giant frame with a strange conglomeration of gear on the rear held on by wide straps with buckles and capped by two spare tyres. Paul the other day also had a spare tyre looped around his gear on the back of his bike.

I have only two spare tubes, trusting that the only real damage that can be done to a well-inflated tyre is a puncture. Spare tyres, especially medium-weight ones, are difficult to stow because they don't fold up. James also has a six-litre plastic water carrier across the top of his front pannier rack, that I think leaves him open to losing the lot should a leak occur without him noticing.

He seems to be obsessive with safety, especially for this part of the country. He has an orange flag in a vertical position, and another in a horizontal position sticking out on the right from his rear pannier by about 45cm. "People don't seem to like getting their cars scratched if they see this, but they might knock you off your bike," he said.

He recounted a story about a female school bus driver near Wilmington in South Australia's Clare Valley who appeared play "chicken" with him for the benefit of the children on board. James said the bus passed him so closely that it brushed his right arm. He said he just froze. There had been no shoulder or verge for him to escape to. He noticed the children looking down with smiles verging on delight at what had happened (it is amazing what sticks in one's mind in a critical situation). When James got to Wilmington, he found a group of students with the same uniform in town, and quizzed them about who was driving the bus. He reported the incident to police, but declined the opportunity to have the driver prosecuted, saying that he wanted the details kept on record should another incident with a cyclist occur that might have more serious consequences.

James said he encountered snow and sleet on the first day out of Canberra. This is likely the same weather pattern that affected the walkers I met the other day. It was the only time he considered giving up the trip. I recalled the same feelings, but under different circumstances. The second day of his trip improved and he broke through the barrier. He was well rugged up when I met him with woollen socks, track pants, two tops including a wind vest, and a safety over-vest. It seemed overdone, but he was comfortable. Like me, he started growing a beard after hitting the road. Like me, he has had encounters with rogue drivers, about once every two days. He said he had the usual problems keeping control if passed by two or three big vehicles at once, especially with a side wind blowing.

James took a route out of Adelaide to Clare Valley via the hills that put him on the highway near Port Augusta. He was particularly enthusiastic about the fact he had travelled 17km downhill without having to pedal. Unfortunately, going in my direction, that means 17km of climbing, so I discounted the route. James said the Nullarbor settlement had a backpacker establishment at the rear, and while it was basic, it had desalinated water. He had stopped at Ceduna in a cabin at the caravan park, but had reservations about camping there because of the deposits of dung left my the dog owned by the park's on-site owners. He was not impressed!

As we chatted, a police car travelling west went past, stopped, did a U-turn and came back to us. The officer asked if we had seen a Ford Falcon ute and van. I said yes, about 10 minutes beforehand, adding that the drivers appeared to be "enjoying" themselves. I was asked if they appeared to be speeding, and I said no. The police officer did another U-turn and took off at a fast clip after the two vehicles. The wind started to turn and come from the south-west. James and I bade each other good luck, safe travelling and farewell.

I surprised myself with the climb up to Eucla. I selected 1 and 1 on the gearshifts, and pedalled to the top without feeling stressed. In fact, I was proud of myself because the climb was the steepest since the hills in Perth, and it had come at the end of a day's ride. My fitness has obviously improved vastly since leaving Perth.

The receptionist, Katherine, said Eucla had a population of 55, and that enabled the town to develop its facilities and attractions better than the other settlements along the Eyre Highway. I want to have a look around here before leaving tomorrow. I would have done it today, but I was still feeling the effects of yesterday, and had a nap for two hours after eating. I then did some washing and called my father to let him know I was all right and to check progress with my job applications.

The camp site cost $2.00 a night. The showers have $1.00 timers for five minutes of hot water. It all seems to be the best value on the Eyre Highway. I have picked a campsite behind some low trees for protection from the wind. I also had another look at my fibreglass tent poles. I will probably have to replace the brass ferules at some stage. Certainly, there is nothing I can do about them at the moment.

While I was in the laundry, I had another graphic display of how some people just don't get remote travel in Australia. A man grappled with the public telephone just outside the door as he tried five times to make a long-distance call. Naturally, his frustration mounted and he swore and cursed. When he finally connected the call, he told the other person with some incredulity: "The place we stayed at last night was bad. You couldn't get any radio or television". Hmmmm. Someone should have told this Sydneysider that this part of the world is vast, remote and lonely, and it is possible to escape from modern technology. Fortunately for him, Eucla has a community radio and television service that relays signals for ABC-TV and GWN television, and the Perth-based PM-FM radio station.

This place also sells frozen barbecue packs for $5.00. I will buy one first thing tomorrow morning and wrap it in my clothes so it should still be okay when I stop tomorrow night. The pack contains a steak, a chop and a couple of sausages. It will make a change from pasta and instant soups although I have just restocked on the soups as a reserve food supply. I have bought another tube of condensed milk for making palatable coffee, and some raspberry cordial concentrate to add variety to my rehydration. The cordial has citric acid, but has sucrose rather than glucose. My shopping list included some bananas for energy and replacement of trace elements such as potassium.

Tomorrow, I proceed over the border between Western Australia and South Australia, and that means putting forward my watch again to read Central Standard Time. Border Village is about 13km from Eucla, then it's 186km to Nullarbor, and that means I will camp out tomorrow night. James said the road was quite good beyond here, with typical undulations. Hopefully, the weather will be kind to me again.

I am looking forward to getting some photographs tomorrow before leaving Eucla, of the old jetty and the ruins of the original telegraph station that has been overtaken by the dunes. I might even have a paddle in the ocean, as my shoes are starting to smell more and more like roadkill.

I will also try to get a photograph of the quite impressive window etching in the motel bar, portraying the jetty and station ruins along with a wedged-tailed eagle and seals. It was etched in 1986 by Alasdair Gordon. Later I will try to get along to the cliffs that apparently rise 90 metres above the sea. If they turn out to be as impressive as they sound, the boredom of the sea plain in the past two days might be worth it.

I have bought five postcards for 40 cents each depicting one of the ruins in the dunes. I will have to do something about writing to everyone tomorrow night after I have crossed the border, especially my former colleagues at The West Australian newspaper who thought I would not get this far.

In the past two nights, I have taken to eating potato crisps, which suggests my salt intake needs to be boosted. I have been putting quite a bit of salt on the tomato sandwiches I have had over the past few days, but that still does not seem to have been enough to reduce the desire. I will keep an eye on how I feel between here and Ceduna in regard to cramping.

The bushes and low trees around my campsite, along with the bike, are useful clothes lines. That is just as well because I cannot find any clothes lines near the ablutions blocks. What I have found on the bike is that when riding it, I can thread my towel or clothing under the bungee cord for the sleeping bag. The important thing to watch, however, is the items don't hang down so far to catch on the spokes, on the tyre between the mudguard, or between the gears and chain.

I have collected an information sheet on the history of Eucla to add to my collection of material gathered since the start of the journey. Some of it I will have to send home to reduce the steadily increasing weight.

My left quadricep seemed to respond to a hot shower and a gentle self-massage last night, although I did have twinges from it today. The tops of my knees are still sore, but not unbearably so. The only other two areas of soreness that may impede progress tomorrow are my backside, and the inside of my groin where the boil-like swelling is close to either bursting or subsiding again. I am reluctant to manipulate the lump other than to apply antiseptic cream to avoid any further infection.

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