Pollyana

My dad went into a well-known high street store in Bath to get me some DVDs, having been carefully primed by me as to what to look for so they will play here, and was doing fine until he mentioned that he was buying Christmas pressies for Australia.....apparently there was then a sharp intake of breath from the shop assistant, and he was firmly told, "Sorry sir, you can post videos to Australia, but you are not allowed to post DVDs to there, its against the law".......since when??? who thought up that rumour???

Anyone else got any weird things that they or their rellies have been told? Urban myth time I think......... :scared:

jayr

Not quite an urban myth but here goes anyway.

As many will know, much time is spent on the phone to UK rellies commenting on time and weather differences:

"It's dark there? Funny its morning here"

"Oh sorry is it 2am, I thought it was 2PM"

"Is it 10 hours ahead? I thought it was behind? So is it tomorrow"

etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, along thes lines, my mother asked in all seriousness

"So is it September there like it is here?"

Ceri

My mum thought we had wild alligators in Brisbane..lol . Apparently bro told her Australia had wild Alligators . Perhaps my darlin' bro was just wishful thinking that I'd be eaten by something . Ahh my dear, dear brother, I'll lock him in a cupboard when I get home, for old times sake - I used to torture him as a kid , the snotty g*t .. he loves me really - we just fight like cat and dog.

Father in law thinks that Aborigines are running around Brisbane in loin cloths and spears. Mind you when I was Asia he though we all lived in Ka- Pongs in the jungle ..lol ( kampongs)

Not really myths, but I get this when I talk to my mum on the phone " did you see that documentary etc the other night?" .. sigh, no mum we don't get your Tv over here. And you know that Margaret from so and so ( no mum I'm in Australia!) .. and you know this, and that.. argh

I don't know what they really think of Aus, but the impression I get of what they think, we're are like the sullivans..lol . And we say strewth mate every sentence, it's swarming with snakes ,which we fight off everyday. It dosen't help I suppose when I keep sending them odd things, and pics of sharks when I catch them.

None of my family has been out to Australia for a visit , I'm trying to put my mum-in-law off coming here ( yikes!) - it's worked so far, she hates bats, spiders , snakes everything and anything.. so I send her pics and dead spiders to her ( She loves me too , don't know why ..lol )

My own mum doesn't want to come here, she doesn't fancy it at all.. no culture she says . She used to visit me in Asia, that appealed to her, Aus no.

My father -in-law, you won't get him on a plane, he is petrified of flying ( he once booked a ticket to come and visit us in Asia, exchanged money the lot.. then he bottled out at the last moment ) We've been trying for years for him to take a holiday, and now he won't come to Aus since all this terrorism hoo ha, another excuse for his fear of flying ( if I can get a plane anyone can..hate flying myself).

Regarding what you can send, if your dad isn't on the net just print out the list from the customs site and send it to him . I should do that myself for my mum-in- law who seems to think I want flower bulbs and such.

The shop assistant probably just heard we have a different region here, and this got passed along the line - Chinese whispers, and turned into "it's against the law to send DVD's"

Badge

the corks around hats..

bawi

hi there
this is not an urban myth, but came to my mind when reading above posts. my bf's mum keeps saying every time i feel cold, 'you should not feel cold with all that snow in your country' ( i am swiss, to be exact from basel, where it is very rare to find snow, it might happen maybe one week a year, if at all). i am so sick of the total ignorance of these (aussie) people. all the assumptions they make as if i was from a third world country. they go on and on about every day things like some food and clothing and just general stuff, 'you wouldn't have that in switzerland, would you?'
so fed up with it!!!!!
does any one here feel the same?
barbara

Ceri

I used to get that when I first arrived here. I landed in NSW and lived in Newcastle, it was April when I got here, and I found it cold ( I came from Sing where I had been for five years, hot and humid all year round).. I was freezing here after Sing . People found it odd that a Brit was cold. Here in the winter nights of Brisbane, I still freeze.

Funny thing when I went back home for a month this year ( feb/march) I got snow one day, and it was cold temperatures, but I didn't feel the cold the same there for some reason, better house insulation etc I suppose. Still does not expalin why I wasn't cold outside either though ( and I wasn't any more wrapped up than I am here in Brisbne in the winter nights)

If you're cold , you're cold

Mother-in-laws , I'll swap your mine for yours.. she's in Wales if you want her, send her your address so she can visit you instead of us.

renth

Most Aussies dont know the difference between Switzerland and Sweden. They think it's the same place.

Pollyana

its weird the way rellies think isn't it. My mum panicked when there were bushfires in Sydney and I was on holiday in Hobart, and when someone got attacked by a shark in Perth after I arrived in Brisbane she was straight on the phone to make sure I was OK!
My niece - Ok, she was 7 at the time, so she has an excuse - said she was worried about me coming to live here as it was all desert, and would I have a proper toilet to use.........!

Ceri

I tell you what I had when I went home, I stayed with my mum-in-law for a few days and she took me out to her pub. Now this pub is one of those really little old country , local pubs, where everyone knows each other. Anyway, she kept introducing me as "this is my daughter in law from Australia".. I kept having to tell them I'm not Australian , I'm a Brit... lol. People kept coming up to me, and asking me stupid questions as if I was a tourist, ooh look at Mrs x's daughter in law she an Australian ( you've got imagine this pub.. it's where everyone knows each other.. and little old men sitting in corners with their bitter and pipe)
Gawd it was embarrassing.

Perhaps it would have been easier to say.. yea good on you, strewth I am come from land down under.. carrying a blow up croc under my arm.

People are so odd sometimes ..lol

Gary / Terri

I don't know if this helps but some don't work as they are in different regions some will not play on aussie players. I think Aus is region 4 and the uk is region 2 some work some don't not illegal to my knowledge!!!!

Gary and Terri

Jacko1

My "Aussie" Brother in Law says:
Keep the myths going they will scare a few people off coming to Australia, All those spiders, redbacks, snakes, sharks, crocodiles, bugs, insects, etc They are everywhere!!!

Paul J

Ceri

It's not illegal to post Dvd's to us here, and we have multi - regional DVD players here too that will play region 2 ( british region) , or any region around the world , or if you buy a non multi region player , there are hacks for them. My own Dvd player is multi region. Play any region. One of the ones I had before , was not.. but got a hack for it.

cheers

Jacko1

Most up market DVD players are now multi region, some cheaper ones Tesco and the like are europe only. Nearly all can be "hacked"

Paul J

Pollyana

Similar to your story Ceri - I spent a few days with my mum just before I came out here, she lives in this sleepy Somerset market town. We went to the pub down the street, and she said to the landlady "Oooh this is my daughter, shes going all the way to Australia and marrying an Australian...." Landlady looked suitably scared, and throughout the evening whenever anyone came in she whispered to them, pointed at me, and shook her head sagely! I felt like a prize exhibit in a zoo!

Badge

I asked my old dear whether she'd come and visit us in Australia when I told her we were pulling the red handle on the UK..I think she'd cottoned on to me anyhow as I'd been there a year in Australia already, and my brother had probably grassed me up..

she said:

"I'd absolutely boil alive. You KNOW I can't stand the heat..."

I said "Mother dear" well not like that - "Melbourne may get 40 degree days" - (I later had great pleasure in recounting this in email) but it gets effing cold in the winter..."

and it does - that's not a myth.

Ceri is right if you're cold, you're cold, if you're hot you're hot. I've never been a cold person or a hot person. Suited for Melbourne then..


BM