Ellen tweets to Australia: 'I'm down, but I'm not out' ELLEN DeGeneres has personally assured Australians she is still about to visit via a sick-bed Tweet. The chat show host and her wife Portia de Rossi delayed their weekend visit to Australia after DeGeneres came down with a severe bout of the flu. Warner Bros announced the delay to the Sunday visit yesterday, saying the 55-year-old was too sick to travel. Early this morning, Ellen herself expressed her apology: People of Australia! I'm down, but I'm not out. I'll be in Sydney next weekend, and Melbourne after that. More details soon! Thank you, everyone, for your kind thoughts and tweets. I missed a week of shows, but I'm starting to feel better!" she said in an earlier tweet.' She went on to quip: "I can't believe I was so sick I missed #ClassicJokeTuesday. Here's a catch-up one. What did the pirate charge for earrings? A buccaneer. The postponement news has thrown into chaos her much-hyped Australian expedition - a tour that has been almost 12 months in the planning. It is understood her secret schedule has been moved back one week. Ellen had cancelled episodes of her LA talk show during the week because of the illness, but had hoped to have recovered enough for her weekend flight. The personality and her partner, Australian actress Portia DeGeneres, formerly de Rossi had been due to board a flight from Los Angeles to Australia today.