Sinking into the sand at Dixon Park beach, Georgie Carson was worried no one was going to come to her very first event. Login or signup to continue reading But she was not alone, and soon she was surrounded by more than 20 people who had found her group through social media. A free weekly catch-up, Sunrise Social invites people to come down to the water every Sunday, grab a coffee, watch the morning light and make friends.
Advertised on Instagram, the group joins other social catch-ups that have popped up around Newcastle, hoping to forge connections. "It has been quite lonely having my friends and family on the other side of the world. It is like a feeling of emptiness," Ms Carson said.
Ms Carson moved to Australia from Lancashire in the United Kingdom in 2018, moving from Griffith, Jindabyne, and Forster before settling with her partner in Newcastle in October 2023. She decided to start up the Newcastle branch of Sunrise Social after finding it hard to make friends as an adult in a new city. "Having a group that doesn't have to be anything is the best thing about it.
No format to it. It is not a yoga group, or running group. It is just to turn up and talk, and see where the conversation goes," she said.
She found a lot of people didn't generally leave Newcastle, and there wasn't a lot of scope to break into those friendship groups. Social groups dot the Newcastle coastline along with activity-focused spaces like run clubs. Alternating locations from Nobbys beach up to Merew.