[1] After sailing aboard the Baring to Sydney, in Australia, Kemp and her husband transferred to the General Gates for the trip to the Bay of Islands, their final destination.

Along with Thomas Kendall and John Gare Butler, the Kemps established a Church Missionary Society (CMS) station at Kerikeri.

Nearby was the main pā (fort) of Hongi Hika, a Māori rangatira (chief) of the Ngāpuhi iwi (tribe).

In 1835 the death of one of her children at seven months old coincided with a proposed move for the family to establish a new mission station in Tauranga.

[1] The only missionaries to remain in the area after 1840 and this meant the Kemp family was uniquely situated during the Flagstaff War of 1845–46, being among the few Europeans who stayed in the Bay of Islands during this time.

[1][2] The Kemp residence, Mission House, remained in the family's hands until 1974, when it was donated to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust by her great-grandson.