SUCCESS!!!
"version" : 36977,
"balance" : 623.00000000,
"blocks" : 2535687,
"connections" : 5,
"proxy" : "",
"generate" : false,
"genproclimit" : -1,
"difficulty" : 5288.85799923,
"hashespersec" : 0,
"Likely to be Geistnet?" : true,
"keypoololdest" : 1436084912,
"paytxfee" : 0.00000000,
"errors" : ""
Once the blockchain had fully sync'd it immediately clogged up p2pool - but a quick wallet restart without touching p2pool cleared it. I'm now seeing merged mining work found, submitted & paid into the wallet for the first time!
Unfortunately, my btc share doa rate has gone crazy, but I'm gonna run with it for a while to see if it settles at a comfortable diff, then maybe it will calm down a bit. Thanks for putting up the extra nodes markm - seems that was exactly what was needed
edit: Bah......had to pull it from my node, it cluttered it up again. Damn, was so close..........