"Connection Refused" error when trying to create a new contact
The issue seems to be with the automatic address geocoding (finding the latitude and longitude using google maps api)

It's probably that your server has a firewall that restrict it to connect to other websites. You should disable the geocoding feature or let the server connect to google maps api server

You'll have a few other features that require the server to connect to external sites (eg. most of the payment processors), it's probably worthwhile opening up more the security, or at least keep in mind when you have a problem that it might be the issue