Need new camera (advice) after breaking Oly 3040

I broke my Olympus C3040Z last week and am researching new cameras.

The 3040 had 3MPix, 3x zoom & macro to 20cm.

I take mainly photos of flora and fauna so close macro is important for
flowers and decent zoom for animals. [Why is it hard to find a digi still
cam with decent zoom - like video cams ]

Prefer CF memory as its cheapest but then again I would probably only get a
256MB card and take a laptop with me on vacations.

Prefer AA batteries as I already have 8 NiMH's (and recharger) sitting here
doing nothing.

More than 3MPix (but looks like any decent camera has more these days).

I don't really care about movie mode - its mostly a gimmick for still
cameras anyway (granted, some are now delivering decent 640x480 unlimited
recording). The movie mode for my Oly was very poor.

I like the manual mode so control over exposure, white balance, etc. would
be handy (but I'd hope most in my price range have this).

I'm checking web sites, such as http://www.steves-digicams.com/ (although
this site doesn't seem to review cameras so much as state their features).

I'm willing to spend around US$500 (I'm in Australia but I understand most
people here can think in this currency).

--
http://rnr.id.au

Thanks but that has insufficient zoom, I'm looking at at least 6x (optical
of course).

"GT40" wrote in message
...
Not sure if this matches your list, but look at the (US Model number)
Canon PowerShot S60