For a long time before I had my Canon 40d I had a Canon 2S bridge camera. I was very impressed with what was packed into such a small body
. 12 times zoom and focusing down to less than 1 cm. I took that around the world with with me for my work visits especialy as taking a larger camera would not have been an option. It recently died
I intend to buy a replacement probably the S5 as it uses SD cards which I have and AA batteries that you can buy anywhere. Net prices see to be in the region of £220 .
I would seriously consider this route if i were you.