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Sure one day you’ll have an awesome office with ping pong tables and bean bag chairs and lofted cubicles, but if you’re at the beginning of you startup journey, it’s a good chance that your office and your home are one and the same. Working solo in a web business can be a lonely endeavor and you trade the benefits of gossip and camaraderie for the ability to work in your underwear. MediaScope-owner Denise Shrivell has loved how online business has allowed her to spend more time at home with her children but says the hardest times have been the highs and the lows when you want someone to celebrate or commiserate with and all you have is a house cat or a three-year-old. No man is an island, even when it comes to work, and more and more coworking spaces are opening up around the world that solve the problem of solitude, often with the added benefit of providing a professional meeting place for your clients and office supplies like copiers and fax machines.

98Riley
Open for just under a year, as of December 2009, this space near Hyde Park in Sydney has a great collection of big-name residents including MitchelLake, Pollenizer and mobile marketing company mogeneration. Space rental runs from a flat $350 ( a special until the end February 2010) to drop in for coffee, bandwidth and power to $650 for a monthly desk rental. You can read Pollenizer’s Phil Morle’s introduction to the space and the idea behind it here.

It appears mogeneration and Pollenizer are indeed working out of the same office but not the 98Riley spot. We’ll find out for sure if they are still offering some sort of coworking experience and what has become of 98Riley. Check for updates.

Jelly
The Jelly concept was born in New York in 2006 and has spread (get it…jelly..spread?) around the world since, creating an awesome international co-working experience for travelers. There are jelly co-working events in six Australian cities with some of the nation’s creative and active business people helping to host them. These informal gatherings range from locations like coffee houses to living rooms and there is frequently an RSVP so that the organizers knows how many to expect. Click here to find the dates, times and RSVPs for the Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Gold Coast, Central Coast NSW, Brisbane. You can read one attendees review of a Sydney Jelly here.

Hackerspace
This Sydney coworking group is as much for hobbyists as it is for workers and focuses more on tangible electronics, photography, 3d printing and other crafts. These spaces bring together a group to share tools, equipment and expertise, not to mention a workspace for those who may not have the luxury of a garage or workshop. This group meets on Saturdays at 662 Princes Highway, Kogarah and invite you to follow along with member’s projects on their blog.

Open Hub
This Melbourne coworking space, located in the heart of downtown, celebrated its second birthday in October 2009. Prices range from $120 to be a roaming member that pops in occasionally to $600 for 24/7 access, a desk, storage, meeting rooms and more.

Inspire9
This Melbourne co-working spot is offered by web development agency Inspire9. They have opened space for freelancers and self-employed complete with coffee, coke fridges and wifi. The company is currently offering the space just outside the city in Richmond for free but asking for small donations.

Coworking Canberra
This space is just about to open after two years of effort. The plan is to use part of Response Driven Marketing’s office space to create a coworking area with affordable space for freelancers and founders. As of December 2009, the cost model was still being worked out for the space but they are accepting expressions of interest as they hash out the final details.

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