Can anyone point me to a website that explains flash, easy to run through tutorials, etc. Found a few sites but they generally want me to pay before I can get too far and realise the potential.

I have done a few websites and realised that limitations of HTML and Javascripts.

I wonder how hard you really looked.

google search: flash tutorial (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=flash+tutorial&btnG=Google+Search)

Result #1 (http://www.echoecho.com/flash.htm)
Result #2 (http://www.w3schools.com/flash/default.asp) (by w3schools, so its free and very reliable)
Result #3 (http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/) (looks like over 500 tutorials on more advanced topics)
Result #4 or 5 (depends on how you look at it) (http://www.kirupa.com/)

The moral of the story is that with Google and the right query you can find anything.

Cheers
-Dan