Melbourne is the easiest Australian city to have a social life in, as long as you do not sit in your apartment waiting for it to happen. The city runs on small venues, clubs and regular nights, and most of them are built for people who turn up alone the first time.
I moved to Australia solo in 2010, so I know what the first month feels like. This guide is the Melbourne version: how the city works socially, and every group from my ebook with the link attached so you can join before you land.
Why Melbourne Is Good for Meeting People
Two reasons. First, the city is built around going out on a Tuesday, not just a Saturday. Comedy rooms, live music, run clubs, book shops with events, pub trivia. Second, Melbourne has a huge and constantly refreshing population of people who arrived recently, which means there are always other people looking for a friend rather than a full social calendar.
The catch is that Melbourne friendships start slowly. People are friendly but they are not instantly your best mate. You meet someone at a run club, then see them again the next week, then they invite you to something. That third step is the one that matters, and it only happens if you go back.
The Groups From My Ebook
These are the Melbourne groups I list in my ebook, with the links in one place.
Melbourne and Victoria
- Melbourne Working Holiday Girls the big one for women on a working holiday visa, and the fastest way into a group chat before you land
- Lost and Found Melbourne social events for newcomers, also runs in Sydney and Perth
- Melbourne Social Meets regular meet-ups built around walks, coffee and wellbeing
- Sexy on Sundays girls group with events in Melbourne and Sydney
National Groups Worth Joining
- Cold Nips cold water dips and swims, with a big Melbourne crowd at the beaches
- Croissant Run Club 30 locations worldwide and all over Australia, and the name tells you the incentive
- Australia Social meet-ups and social events
- Australia Backpacker Guide the big backpacker Facebook group, useful for rooms, jobs and people in the same boat
- Run clubs around Australia a directory of clubs you can just turn up to
Where to Actually Meet People in Melbourne
Join a Run Club or Social Sport
Run clubs are the single best social invention in Australia. You do not need to be fast. Most clubs have a walking or slow group and a coffee stop at the end, and the coffee stop is the actual point. Just Play runs social leagues across Melbourne if team sport is more your thing, and there are netball, touch footy and basketball leagues in most suburbs.
Use Your Suburb
Melbourne is a city of neighbourhoods and each one has its own social life. Fitzroy and Collingwood for bars and live music, St Kilda for the beach and backpackers, Brunswick for cheap food and gigs, the CBD for work drinks and after-work sport. Pick the one you live in and become a regular somewhere: a cafe, a gym, a bar with trivia. Regulars get talked to.
Say Yes in the First Month
The people who struggle in Melbourne are usually the ones who say no for the first month because they are tired or skint. The people who settle quickly say yes to the average invitation: a Tuesday drink, a park picnic, a five-a-side game. None of those sound exciting, and all of them are how friendships start here.
Work Is a Real Social Network
Melbourne has a big hospo, retail and office temp scene, and work friends turn into real friends faster here than in most cities because so much socialising happens after shifts. Say yes to the after-work drink even when you are tired. That is where the invitations come from.
A Realistic First Month
Week one: join two of the groups above, post an introduction, and get a local SIM and bank account sorted. Week two: go to one event, even if you are nervous. Week three: message one person you met and suggest something specific, like a coffee or a walk. Week four: go back to the same event and be the person who says hello to the new arrival.
That is the whole method. The groups give you the room. Turning up twice is what turns a room into friends.
The Honest Bit
It can take two or three months before Melbourne feels like yours. That is normal, and it is not a sign that you are doing it wrong. I have written more on this in my guide to making friends in Australia, which has every group by state, and in my working holiday guide to Melbourne if you are still deciding where to base yourself.
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