sunniecat Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 With lots of new people coming in, and having been through it ourselves, we know how hard (and how hard work) it can be to meet new people. I thought I'd start this off as a place to recommend places to meet new people that we and others have found some success with. There's no guarantee any of these will produce the new best mates but I found they were all really good places to at least meet some new people and feel like I knew someone I might be able to go for a drink with. Work in my case was not an option, I was in a tiny office with just me and my boss. I also find it's nice to have friends outside of work! We have made friends: Here (of course) - either organised meetups or just by pm'ing people that looked nice to say 'want a coffee?'. We're all friendly, we don't bite, and we're generally up for a meal, coffee, or something stronger as a forum group. At church (admittedly this may not be for everyone!): I went to 5 churches in 4 weeks looking for one that would suit me, and would consider myself a part of 2 and a half of those now. They have an incredible support network and invited us to all sorts of small groups, 'mens breakfasts', coffee mornings... and in true friendly Anglican church fashion they sucked me into the worship leading team and the youth team pretty quickly... whoops.. but I have also made friends across a wide age group and interest group and know that I could call any of them up any time for support or advice. At dance classes - hobbies as a common denominator are again a good way to meet people. I've only made one real deep friendship from 18 months of dance classes, but there are plenty of friendly acquaintances there now that I would at least wave at in the street and enjoy catching up with at class every week. If you're into crafts, find a craft group to join. If you're into movies, find a movie group. Anything to get you out and talking to other people. Signing up to a football (soccer) club - or another sports club if football's not your thing. Our experience with this has been unbelievably positive. My hubs joined a football club 3 days after we arrived and has been a part of them ever since (they voted him onto the board this year). Their social life is just brilliant. They're a decent size, so there are a lot of different people around with different interests (outside of football), which means he has friends to go to the movies with, to game with, to go down the club for dinner and a drink or three with, to go to trivia nights with... and of course to play a range of sports with (off-season means the start up of anything else they can get into to keep themselves active till football starts again!). In addition, he goes for coffees or lunches with some of the guys that work nearby to his office, when they get the chance. In the summer there'll be BBQs and nights out. They are fantastic and we love them to pieces. If you're into sports, I would really really recommend finding a sports club to join. Completely at random - if you're not shy about talking to strangers, we've made friends at random in cafes, and even on the top of Mt Taylor... you just have to be prepared to smile, say hi, and ask them a question to start the conversation! Through Meetup.com - although none of these friendships lasted, we went to a few meetups early on and met some great people that if we had more hours in the day/days in the week might have become stronger friendships. Time dictated that in the end *someone* had to drop by the wayside and it seems to have been this bunch. Pick a group that seems to suit your interests. They're designed to help you meet people and make friends, so they're a good place to go! I do think it's really important when you're trying to meet people to remember that it is inevitably Hard Work. You have to put a a lot of time, effort and emotional effort into it in order to get something back out of it. You'll start to get tired of always being the one to arrange things. If the people are worth it, then making that effort is worth it. If you're not sure that particular person is worth the effort, put them on the backburner, maybe try again in a few months for a coffee before letting it drop. The more people you meet, the bigger your potential 'new best mate' pool becomes, and I really do think it is worth making that effort, making it a big one, and making it early. It worked for us! Anyone else out there have suggestions of where they've made friends having moved into Canberra?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 We moved when I had a baby so - play groups, mothers groups, kids activity classes, library activities, etc Usually though it was through work, when I started working but TBH very few of them have stood the test of time and very few would have slipped into the "call at 3am" category. One I met on an Internet board for one of my hobbies and we still get along OK. It is hard yakka though and you have to put yourself out there - I can imagine that if you're not working or work in a small or unfriendly environment it would be a real chore and you'd have to make a big push for interest based activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekelsa Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Hi Sunniecat, we recently moved from the UK to the north of Canberra and are looking for football clubs for my husband to join. Do you or your partner know of any in the north? He is very keen to begin playing again and joining in with the social scene too!! Your post was really useful and informative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ptp113 Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Hi Sunniecat, we recently moved from the UK to the north of Canberra and are looking for football clubs for my husband to join. Do you or your partner know of any in the north? He is very keen to begin playing again and joining in with the social scene too!! Your post was really useful and informative. Football or soccer? Big difference................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pntaylor Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Hi Sunniecat, we recently moved from the UK to the north of Canberra and are looking for football clubs for my husband to join. Do you or your partner know of any in the north? He is very keen to begin playing again and joining in with the social scene too!! Your post was really useful and informative. Assuming soccer it depends really on which suburb but one of the bigger teams northside is Belconnen United but there are teams in Gungahlin etc. Here's the page on Capital Football's website for all the teams http://www.capitalfootball.com.au/node/200 and many will post adverts about their training starting when pre-season comes around which is usually February. The State League competitions are great fun and the standard is not too dissimilar to Sunday League football back home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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