Hi Old Cogger, and thank you for the email details .. I am doing that as we speak.
I can't remember if I did the online thingy to notify them I was away, possibly not as I had no plans to use my debit card overseas, however, I can't get into my account now to check. I did inform them in various calls that I was overseas, and would be for an unspecificed period, this was to fraud team and customer services, but nothing was offered.