"Ceol agus craic" (web search it) promised the sign over the door, while the menu tempted with goodies like Beef and Guinness pie or Irish stew... mmmm.

Well, I figured that since I was in Ireland anyway I may as well try a traditional Irish pub and... waaaait a minute. Aren't I supposed to be in Melbourne?? Did my 737 really take such a wrong turn at Albuquerque?

P.J. O'Brien's is, as far as I can tell, a kind of themed McDonalds, but with alcohol. I recall having seen the Sydney version but haven't been in there to date. What I've since discovered is that there are branches, all similarly themed, in Melbourne (two, in fact), Adelaide and Cairns as well. The promise of being a merchant of "Groceries and Provisions" seems to be a touch fake (despite the presence of drapery samples in some of the "shop windows") and doubtless a lot of the rough edges of a real Irish local have been knocked off, but there's no doubt that it provides a reasonable facsimile of such an institution right down to, in the case of the Sydney one, Irish bands.

Of course, if you move to the tables a couple of glass partitions to the right of me, the illusion evaporates slightly when you find yourself looking out over a parking apron with half a dozen Boeings being prepared for flight and a 767 taxiing past just beyond that.

Still, it's a nice place to kill a little time while waiting for your flight.