This was the heyday of the British tea planters and most of her father's social contacts were also planters. She left this idyllic life to attend school in Switzerland, at first in French and then in English. Many of her fellow students at Chatelard, her English-speaking boarding school were also ex-pats, children of British and other nationals working abroad. They typically saw their parents only during the summer holidays when they dispersed to various parts of the Commonwealth. Rosemary had a grandmother in Geneva so was not totally removed from her family. During her time in Switzerland she began skiing and it was something she enjoyed all her life. Skiing was the only aspect of her Swiss school days that really resonated. She not only became an avid skier but a budding photographer recording ski clubs and competitions as well as family vacations and school trips.

Interacting with people from all over the world was the norm for Rosemary and continued throughout her life. At each stage of her life she gathered and nurtured an ever-widening circle of friends. Rosemary kept up regular, and in some cases lifelong, correspondence with many of the friends she made from the different periods and circumstances of her life. She, in turn, received personal letters from just about every continent. This contributed to her appreciation of the world at large as did, in later life, her close following of international news media. Her broad reading, interest in and non-judgemental acceptance of other cultures gave her an understanding grasp of world affairs.

Interestingly, several of her early correspondents who wrote letters to Rosemary over the years were unwittingly documenting the decline of the British Empire. As they reported on their daily ups and downs as colonials trying to make a living, they were often describing first hand the processes that were gradually squeezing the British out of places such as India, Ceylon and East Africa which were struggling to gain independence. Her correspondents not only lived in exotic places but many also travelled extensively sending Rosemary often very detailed and descriptive letters. They could do no less as she kept them well informed of her own remarkable travels and exploits. She was a prodigious letter writer and sent long, colourful and entertaining accounts of her innumerable trips and adventures. Her friends and relatives were enthralled by her accounts of the remote areas of Canada she visited for work and recreation in the 1950s and 60s.