But what if you can't get near the water, or scream in terror when you do?

Australia's rolling beaches and national parks might hold a special place in the national psyche, but have been inaccessible to people with disabilities for many years.

Now an increasing number of Victorian councils and communities are making changes – often minor and inexpensive – so the state's most beautiful places can be enjoyed by more people.

These include beach wheelchairs (large tires to get through soft sand), all-terrain wheelchairs for bushwalking, and beach matting (which creates a path to the water).

And then there are programs like the Starfish Nippers, a life-saving skills program for children with special needs, or the disabled surfing program on offer in Ocean Grove, which encourage confidence outdoors.

When Jonathan Clark's 10-year-old son, Walter, first joined the Starfish Nippers, which is run by the Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club, he was terrified of the sea.

But five years later Walter has grown familiar not only with the water, but club volunteers (he often wanders into the club room to say hello) and the other children in the mainstream Nippers program.

Children like Walter, who has a developmental condition called global dyspraxia, spend much of their lives excluded from a large number of activities says his dad.

"We don't want our kids sitting inside with tablets and smartphones, this can easily become the default for them," Clark says.

Janet Jones, a long-term member of the Anglesea Life Saving Club, founded the Starfish Nippers five years ago when a friend with a child with Down Syndrome was interested in doing a water-safety program but found the mainstream version too overwhelming.

Jones developed a modified program with just six participants (this year they had 16) and there are now similar programs in Hampton, Mentone, Point Lonsdale and Venus Bay, as well as South Australia.

Each child has a volunteer trainer and, unlike the mainstream Nippers, there is no element of competition. They use surfboards that are more buoyant and have handles.

Closer to Melbourne, about 17 per cent of people who live in the Hobson's Bay City Council area, in Melbourne's south west, have a disability.

So this summer the council is trialling accessible beach matting at Williamstown and a beach wheelchair at Altona.

Being able to visit the beach and get to the water is something most Australians take for granted, but most people with a disability have had to look on from the sidelines, said Hobsons Bay mayor Peter Hemphill.

"These two trials will allow many people with a disability to get onto the sand and close to the water for the first time in their lives," Cr Hemphill said.

In Victoria's parks all-terrain wheelchairs and a related volunteer "sherpa" program make it easier to access park trails, while an electric stair climber is available at the Buchan Caves, in Victoria's far east.

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