Hi Damon, I’ve visited Geelong and it is a beautiful place. So you do have some positives to your story to date.

I too read HN first thing each morning, whilst sipping my coffee.

I live in Sydney (it really IS a GREAT place). But I never go to any meetups. I collaborate with people in NZ, Japan, France, Israel, Norway, Canada and several USA cities. I have only met some of these people in person once or twice. Many I have never met in person and I never phone/skype etc. Most of the interactions take place using email. It works well for us because we write when it suits us and respond when it suits. With emails we all re-read before hitting <send> which helps in getting our intended meaning across.

From my experience time-zones are only an issue if you make it. One of my collaborators travels constantly and he is never more than 24 hours out of sync with his replies.

Perhaps you could look at how and where you could make a contribution. Of course you would need to pick a project you have a strong interest in using and making better.