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

Result #1
Result #2 (by w3schools, so its free and very reliable)
Result #3 (looks like over 500 tutorials on more advanced topics)
Result #4 or 5 (depends on how you look at it)

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

Cheers
-Dan