Which modules should I use to create a community based site? I am a grey-haired professional programmer, quiet conversant in PHP, MySql, HTL, CSS which means I can tweak things or code plugins if need be, but I’d like something off the shelf as far as possible.

I am trying to create a social site for ex-pats to help them adjust to their new country. Preparing to get there, legal/visa issues, employment opportunities, accommodation, shopping, plus social stuff.

The demographic is mainly girls in their 20s, so a social angle is important. Integration of FaceBook, Flikr &amp; the like might be nice. What I am thinking of is


main content provided by me and a few moderators
a Wiki to which everyone can contribute 
forums for discussions
small ads/freebie
user registration (which may limit access to certain parts of the site)
groups of friends, with shared .. stuff (photos, discussion rooms, etc)
per user blog
per user photo album
mailing lists


As I said, I was originally set on Drupal, which also has some pre-configured distros, but I didn’t find one yet that really matches my needs.

Do you have any suggestions?
If you mostly want to configure, a distribution is probably your best bet. Looking at your requirements, I'd say take a look at Drupal Commons. It will get you most of the features you need, and you can turn on/off features as needed. The rest of your feature set can be added with specific modules.