As a self-described novice, you should be pleased with those, Alan. Given that you've only had your camera for a couple of weeks, I think it's worth you perservering with it for a while yet rather than switching to a different model. It probably took me a month to become comfortable with the Sony RX10, although admittedly that was a completely new camera for me whereas you've stayed with Canon.
FolIowing our discussion about the merits of cropping an image taken with the Sony RX10 compared to one taken at full zoom on your SX70, I was out with the Sony today, and in the hope that it might be useful to you, here are two shots I took showing the original, uncropped/unprocessed image and then the cropped/processed one.
Whether the SX70 at full zoom would have performed better, only you can say. Also, of course, what you ultimately do with your images will influence how much loss of detail by cropping you are prepared to tolerate. For my purposes, the detail in these images after cropping is acceptable.
Malcolm