Hi and welcome Beth! It's good to see more Melbournians on the forum
Where about in Melbourne are you? The reason I ask is because there is a women's cycling group called Cogsgirls (it's a Yahoo! group) based in the south eastern suburbs. They do mainly road rides (Beach Rd) and laps of Albert Park Lake on different days, but it would be good for training if anything.
Here's the link:
CogsGirls
Happy riding