I wouldn't blame the 1.4 image as there are hundreds of people in Oz using this image. It is strange that the only recent warped problems are occuring in NZ.

Are your inlaws using the same ISP as you are. Maybe some ISP's are blocking the NTP servers.

The servers used by ntpdate are all US servers:
129.6.15.29 US UNITED STATES MARYLAND GERMANTOWN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

192.43.244.18 US UNITED STATES COLORADO BOULDER NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH

129.6.15.29 US UNITED STATES MARYLAND GERMANTOWN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

try
Code:
ntpdate -b 129.6.15.29
from a telnet prompt and see what happens.

Peter.