Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Any thing to do near MEL airport?

In November I will be visiting Australia for 2 weeks. Our last stop on the trip is Melbourne. We have a 6:00 am flight that last day. Since this is the case I booked the Airport Hilton which is attached to the airport. We plan to check into our room as soon as possible so that we can store our bags however we would like to do some more sightseeing instead of wasting our day sitting in the hotel room.
Does anyone know of any tours or activities near the airport area that we could use to fill out time?

Nothing near the airport. So its into the city:- 20 minutes by taxi or www.skybus.com.au or hire a car and go to Daylesford or similar (opposite direction from the city)

Just go into Melbourne, there is so much to see.

Skybus. Easy to walk around interesting parts of the city from the terminal.

Store your bags for the day at the previous hotel. Then pick them up on the way out to airport for an evening/night-time check in. Saves wasting time heading out to airport only to double back into the city again.

This thread has some ideas:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qantas-frequent-flyer/491089-ot-9-hours-melbourne-november-17-what-do.html

(Some of the cost have increased a little)

If you're checked in and want to really stay local rather than go back to the city, Sunbury, next to the airport, has a number of wineries.

This of course is assuming you have a hire car. If not, then the shuttle bus to the city is your best bet, unless you can elaborate on your interests. Maybe there are some suburban places of interest nearby - I can only recall wineries and Essendon airport - then the trip into Melbourne.

Winery or Melbourne. I say, both! :p

Thanks for the responses everyone!

@BiziBB and Mwenenzi: I'm pretty much open minded when it comes to a lot of activities. A winery sounds nice but I'm not sure I want to hire a car. I'm going to look up Sunbury and Daylesford on the internet to see how far they are and what activities they have. I like to go to museums and I'd enjoy learning about the cultural heritage aspect of Melbourne (early city beginnings, goldmining, early settlers, etc). Also I would be interested in learning about the indigenous aboriginal culture if there are any activities outside of the airport that cater to exhibits of that kind.

@Serfty: Thanks for the link to the thread!

@ KiwiFlyer: I thought about doing this and I still might. We will already be in Melbourne for the previous 2 days so I'm thinking it might be good to just leave our bags and check in later that night at the airport hotel. I'd hate to double back into the city and have to pay skybus another roundtrip fare for only a few hours in the city.

Daylesford is about an hour's drive and very pretty country so it is a nice trip (usually no traffic). Versus 30 min drive into Melbourne. Staying at the airport is kind of hopeless at MEL, it really is in the middle of nowhere from a tourist interest standpoint and a car is essential. A shame as the area is otherwise very rich in things to do/see, just not convenient to the airport.

... I like to go to museums and I'd enjoy learning about the cultural heritage aspect of Melbourne (early city beginnings, goldmining, early settlers, etc). Also I would be interested in learning about the indigenous aboriginal culture if there are any activities outside of the airport that cater to exhibits of that kind. ...The Melbourne Museum (http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/) has some very good stuff on that type of thing.

You may find the Melbourne Immigration Museum (http://museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/) interesting.

If you have time, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (http://www.acmi.net.au/) has some good displays.