After returning from Ceylon Rosemary began to think more seriously about immigrating to Canada. She was determined to make this move despite reservations expressed by family and friends. During the post-war years in London she had broadened her rich circle of friends. Her social and cultural life was thriving and she was getting enough work to get by. She travelled much of England including a bicycle trip to Cornwall, delighting in photographing the country, its wildlife and its people. Photo journalism was now a way of life and she was constantly gaining valuable experience and honing her skills. She had an eye for composition, interesting human characters and expressive faces, the juxtaposition of unlikely and often disparate objects, unique angles and interesting patterns both natural and man-made, and much more.

But, Canada remained a magnet. She was drawn by the idea of vast open spaces; the adventure of remote, wild country; free-roaming wildlife; the far north and aboriginal peoples. The idea of lots of snow and people getting about on skiis and snowshoes attracted her, too. She spoke to anyone she could find with experience of Canada. Some Swiss friends who had immigrated to Canada spoke highly of it. Others gave her contacts and leads for photographic work. In 1952, Rosemary took her leave of family and friends and travelled to Plymouth to embark on the 'SS Arosa Kulm'.

Excerpts from her own account of the departure and passage:

"At Plymouth we were shunted off to the Docks and there, much to my surprise the formalities of leaving were gone through at high speed and with efficiency"

"Customs did not ask to have my trunks opened as they were, as usual, held together with straps and pieces of wire."

"The ship is very much larger than I was led to believe…..about 200 passengers from Britain and about 400 from most of the countries in Europe"

Rosemary had a cabin but many of the other passengers lived "in the overcrowded conditions of a troopship". Ever observant and outgoing Rosemary enjoyed meeting and learning about her fellow shipmates whom she described as "a very interesting crowd. They are all sorts and conditions - I have found a pleasant American, an Italian girl, a geologist from Cambridge, and a Canadian widow from Ottawa…..some very nice French people on board, also some Dutch. The great majority are Germans, but there are Hungarians, Romanians, Belgians, Russians and so on"…

"The captain is an old Italian Sea Dog, very pleasant, the crew half Italian - half German" ….The ship "is not efficient like an English ship, but we seem to be getting there which is the main thing. At this moment Newfoundland is in sight." She also comments on the weather and the size of the waves. "When the gale was at its worst we hardly moved at all for two days". When heavy seas left nearly everyone prostrate, "I was lucky and continued to enjoy it all. There was a nice lot of room in the bar, and enough chairs to sit on."

Later, after being delayed by the gales and deposited at Quebec instead of Montreal, as expected, her comment was "Actually it worked out quite well." Joined by a couple of her fellow passengers she went to "a little old hotel up on the ramparts of the old town. Next morning we had a look around the town which is completely French, and old, so it was difficult to believe one was in the New World at all. Quebec is very popular with the Americans and rows of cabs and horses were lined up to cater for them. Needless to say we footslogged round."

She commented that her British passport was looked on favourably and unlike some of her fellow passengers who had trouble with Customs she breezed through, again not being asked to open anything. The Immigration officer welcomed her to Canada hoping she'd like it and stay - which, of course she did.

There are lots more first impressions, "Enormous American motor cars everywhere"…."People were very friendly if one spoke French, but if one asked the way in English you did not get much reaction".

The CPR train to Montreal, "enormous engine and exciting blaring noise"…

"I was thrilled by the swing doors of the station (in Montreal) which are operated by electric cell and as you approach them they swing open like magic in front of you". Then, she went on to Ottawa to stay with friends and began the business of job hunting. She had a few leads from friends and found editors "very approachable, and I was always able to see them right away".

Everyday life in Canada continued to draw comments: "All housewives do their own cooking, cleaning and laundry, but the houses are so well provided with gadgets that it is quite reasonable"….

"The heated houses are very trying to begin with - the warming system is thermostatically controlled and when I dared to open my window at night the whole works started up and shook the house from roof to cellar. Most embarrassing".

Of a friend's car, "a low sporting Oldsmobile - only brake and accelerator - the engine does the rest, this also seems like magic".

Her Canadian vocabulary expanded quickly, "I've been in a drug store, on a street car and sidewalk…".

Before long she began to get out into the countryside that she had come so far to experience but was dependent on friends with cars. On a visit to Port Hope she was taken on a drive to "a lovely sheet of water known as Rice Lake" where natives once gathered wild rice and was thrilled when "we also saw some Indians - dressed of course in European clothes. The country is really wonderful, gentle and rolling, grass and wheat, lots of firs, larches and silver birch. The light is clearer even than Switzerland, the sky the palest most beautiful blue. Most of the houses are wooden, some painted in bright colours."… "The highways are good but not really wide enough to take the very fast cross country traffic. Off the highways the roads are rough and not metalled - the upkeep of metalling all the side roads would be prohibitive".

As her first winter approached she could hardly contain her excitement, "snow-flurries have been promised"…."real winter is expected at any moment."… "rows of snow ploughs are waiting beside the road and railway for the heavy snows"… "fences are erected on both sides of the main highways…. to prevent snow drifts".