Phone Calls

Earlier today, I called my mother. My grampa isn't doing too well, and is only expected to live till Monday. (Isn't it creepy to know what people can give you a ballpark figure of when you'll die?) My mum is pretty distraught, but she seemed like she was handling things well on the phone.
I don't mind calling my parents and family. But I got a bit peeved, when my mum said that she'd "email me" when my grandfather passes away. Now, to me, that's a bit impersonal. But I know that my family won't call me. I've been here in Australia for about 20 months now. And I've been here previously numerous times. All of these times, not once has my family, or ANYONE at that, called me.
Is it really that hard to make an international call? All you do is dial 011+61+my state code+my phone number. I don't find that to be too difficult. You don't have to have international calls subscribed on your phone line. It's a heck of a lot cheaper buying a calling card and using it. When my partner and I were separated due to distance, we both called each other quite often. And it was a breeze to get through the dialing.
I don't know really how to approach my family on this topic. I've given them my number, I've given them directions on how to dial out, but yet nothing has been done. Is it rude of me to ask them to contact me? I don't think it's much to ask. And I've been quiet about it for ohhh, quite a while. My partner thinks it's quite time that I said something.