Mackenzie Booth
Mackenzie Booth (2019-present)
Emily Weir
Episodes: 7130-present
Date of Birth: 23rd April 1993
Parents: Rick & Tanya Booth
Siblings: Dean Thompson; Kayla & Shaun Booth (all half-siblings)
Occupation: Restaurant Owner/Co-owner
Mackenzie arrived in town as the new owner of Salt, having bought it unseen from Brody Morgan. While she tried to make a good first impression on the locals, she clashed with Colby, who gave her a ticket for parking in a restricted area. However, on being introduced to Dean Thompson she began spending time with him, Colby, Willow and Ziggy. After asking Colby and Dean about teaching her to surf and decoying John while Dean and Ben stored boards at the surf club, Dean quizzed her about her interest and she explained she was his half-sister, the daughter of his father Rick from his first marriage. Rick was running for parliament and she wanted to ruin his chances but Dean wanted no part in it. She offered Ryder a job and also spent time with Colby. He kissed her but she backed off, pointing out he was wearing a wedding ring. After he removed the ring, they met for a drink but she still felt he hadn’t moved on. Colby convinced her to open up Salt while it was being refurbished for a pre-wedding party for Robbo and Jasmine, during which she sneaked off with him to spend the night together.
Mackenzie rang Rick, demanding $100,000 or she would tell the press about Dean, ruining his family man image: She was bitter that he had cut her and her mother off when he remarried. Rick made an attempt to win Dean over but Dean ended up telling Mackenzie to do whatever she wanted so she contacted the press. The article about Dean and Karen appeared in the paper but nothing went to plan: Dean was left besieged by reporters, as was Mackenzie’s mother, while Rick painted Mackenzie as bitter and gave a distorted version of events to make it look as though he had supported Dean and Karen financially. Dean agreed to stay away from Mackenzie to avoid going to jail for assault and Rick reported Mackenzie to the police for transferring $80,000 from his account without permission in order to buy Salt. Mackenzie was arrested and charged but Colby convinced Rick to talk to her. Although there was no real rapprochement between them, Rick agreed to drop the charges if Mackenzie agreed to repay the money in instalments.
Having abandoned her plan for revenge against Rick, Mackenzie set about trying to rebuild her relationship with Dean. This hit a stumbling block when he came to her house and found Colby in her bedroom, at which Colby abruptly ended the relationship. Aware that Dean needed a job for his parole conditions, Mackenzie tried to convince him to take a serving job at Salt but he refused, saying he didn’t trust her. She was initially set to give up on him but, after a chat with Willow, ended up attempting to surf to prove a point. Even though she was a complete disaster, it resulted in her and Dean bonding and he agreed to take the job. However, she was left dispirited when he rebuffed her attempts to make small talk while happily chatting with the likes of Ben, Ziggy and Bella. After trying to find something she liked for them to do, Dean ended up taking her surfing with him and Ziggy, saying it was the best way to get to know him.
She learned that Colby breaking up with her had been down to Dean threatening to end their friendship if he didn’t and eventually told Dean she didn’t need protecting and Colby to take a chance, resulting in them getting back together, spending time together in between his responsibilities to Bella. When Dean was an hour late for a shift, Mackenzie called someone else to cover and sent him home. He initially quit but later admitted he liked working with her even if he didn’t love the job. She took him back on and also gave him the money to start up a surf school. When she learned Bella was having trouble with having to testify at Irene’s trial, after Irene assaulted Tommy O’Reilly while saving Bella from him, Mackenzie told Bella how she found out her best friend was abusing his girlfriend and testified against him despite everyone begging her not to. Mackenzie was present when it was revealed Teresa, a woman from Irene’s support group, had killed Tommy and tried in vain to convince Bella she was wrong to do so.
Dean’s mother Karen came to town, throwing him into a panic since she didn’t know about Mackenzie. He initially had Colby try and keep Mackenzie away, but when Mackenzie found out she told him he should have let her know so she could help. She was left at a loss however when Karen turned up at Salt looking for work, prompting Dean to tell Karen the truth. Mackenzie took Karen for a drive and explained about her own difficult relationship with Rick, winning her over. She gave Karen a job at Salt but Karen struggled with the pressure so soon after being discharged from hospital, quickly resigning and leaving town.
Mackenzie was uncomfortable when Colby began getting involved in the federal case that saw Robbo kidnapped, feeling out of place while he supported Jasmine, and admitted to Bella she wasn’t sure if she could cope with him always being in danger. Bella was furious with her and, although Dean was more understanding, both agreed she should break up with him sooner rather than later if she was going to. The last straw came when she arrived for a date to witness Colby being punched by Robbo. However, despite breaking up, she continued to spend time with Colby. This infuriated Bella, and Colby told Mackenzie he needed to focus on her. However, he then met Mackenzie on the wharf and told her he wanted to get back together, to which she agreed. She was asked by Ziggy to cancel Dean’s shifts so he could concentrate on his surf lessons. Discovering Dean was struggling with fitting in his shifts at Salt around surf lessons and working at the board shop again, she fired him and gave him a loan for his business. Ryder convinced her to employ Jade, a young woman staying at the caravan park.
Mackenzie was meant to be spending time with Colby while Bella was away on a school trip but Bella announced she was too ill to go. Mackenzie accused her of faking it only for Bella to collapse and be diagnosed with tetanus, leaving Mackenzie feeling bad. However, Bella refused to forgive her and ordered her out of the hospital, which Colby went along with, spending all his time with Bella and leaving Mackenzie frozen out. Mackenzie concluded that he would only have time for her if nothing was wrong with Bella and decided to end things, although she was left disappointed when Colby agreed.
When Willow had celebratory drinks at Salt after getting a promotion at work, Mackenzie had a hard time coping with Colby being there, drunkenly telling Ziggy that Dean hadn’t wanted her to get a job away from the Bay and sniping at Colby and Bella. Mackenzie ended up drinking after hours in Salt and was found by John and Willow the next morning. She asked Dean to keep Colby away from her and returned the favour when Dean began to fall apart after Ziggy’s departure, smoothing things over with a refund and free pizza when he rudely cancelled a surf class and taking him with her to the city to try and clear his head. Instead, he disappeared on a two day bender and Mackenzie ended up calling the police on him when he started a fight in Salt.
She realised Bella was faking being sick after noticing she had a funny turn every time Colby tried to talk to her but failed to convince Colby of the fact. When Ryder told her Jade had been stealing from Salt, Mackenzie reported her to Colby and had her arrested. However, Jade claimed Ryder was the one stealing and Colby reported that Ryder had been charged with allegedly posting a sex tape of him and Jade without her knowledge. As a result, Mackenzie felt she had no choice but to keep Jade on and fire Ryder. She ended up arguing with Bella, resulting in Colby overhearing and realising Mackenzie had been right about Bella.
The next day, Mackenzie heard Bella telling Willow to tell Colby she was ill and disbelieved her, but ended up taking her to hospital when she found her in pain. The two of them were in the bathroom when gunmen stormed the emergency department and took everyone else hostage and managed to hide in the treatment room, with Mackenzie calling Colby to tell him what was going on. Bella admitted she had taken an overdose in order to appear ill and Mackenzie realised she could die. She allowed herself to be taken hostage and tried to help Alex slip away to treat Bella, but it resulted in Bella being captured as well. After failing to convince the gunmen to let medical staff treat her and seeing Mason killed, Mackenzie continued to look after Bella.
She ran into Dean, who had got into the hospital and told her to get everyone down on the floor when she got the signal. She complied when the fire alarm went off and was freed with the others when the police rushed in and apprehended the hostage takers. She cleared the air with Bella in the aftermath and kept her company at the hospital while most people were at Robbo’s funeral. When Bella was discharged, she brought pizza to the flat. Finally accepting things weren’t going to happen with Colby, she signed up to a dating site. However, when her first date turned up, he turned out to be her ex Jason, who had helped her steal the money from Rick and demanded a cut. Colby and Dean saw him off but that resulted in Colby finding out about her using the dating app. Despite this, when Colby was hospitalised, she spent a night by his bedside and contemplated getting back with him, bringing him home while Dean was busy with Bella. However, she was left disappointed again when Colby hid his divorce papers from her and instead shared a drink with Ari Parata. She headed to the caravan park when Ari started avoiding her; he told her he’d been in jail but she didn’t let it put her off and spent the night with him.
When Colby found out they were together, he confronted them at Salt but Mackenzie told him to leave. However, when she heard about Bella being sent to a therapy centre after self-harming, she went round to see Colby, upsetting Ari who she was meant to be meeting at Salt. She gave Gemma a job and helped Colby out with a hangover cure after his divorce came through. When Ari’s brother Tane moved to town, Mackenzie found herself routinely rebuffing his attempts to flirt. Tane admitted he was mostly doing it to wind Ari up but also suggested they’d be good together. She agreed to Ryder having his dad Evan perform in Salt and let him have indefinite time off to spend with Evan when she learned he was dying. She told Colby she had paid off her debt to Rick but brushed off his attempts to warn her off Ari. When she learned Ari was suspected of the Diner robbery, she gave him a false alibi, but Colby quickly saw through it and returned her statement unfiled.
She dealt with Jasmine’s ranting about Grace being in danger and inadvertently upset Ryder by celebrating being rid of Rick. Ari accused her of paying his rent only for it to turn out Tane had got the money by illicit means. In order to help the family, Mackenzie offered Tane a job at Salt. However, she admitted to Dean that she found Tane attractive and was uncomfortable when he took Amber Simmons home after his first shift. After going out clubbing and seeing Tane get into a fight defending Amber, Mackenzie picked an argument which resulted in Amber accidentally punching Ziggy and then realising Mackenzie was jealous. She tried to send Tane home from work and admitted her feelings to Ari before convincing him they should have a serious relationship.
She challenged Ari to take her out on a date and he ended up taking her fishing, which she revealed she had learned in order to accompany Rick on his boat. She proceeded to catch a large fish and have it cooked as an elaborate meal for them at Salt. She accompanied Ari and Tane when they went to Mount Currawong to look for Bella and Nikau. They first found Nikau and, when he managed to get Bella to meet them, Mackenzie took her back to the police station. She discovered she had missed an e-mail giving her a month’s notice to leave her rental and had to be out in 24 hours, and was convinced to moved in with the Paratas temporarily even though both she and Tane were uncomfortable with the idea. Ari arranged a candlelit bath for her for her first night but Tane accidentally walked in on her. She confronted him about his discomfort and he asked her to put them on different shifts. She witnessed him being slashed by an old associate, Leon Caruthers, and took him to hospital, ending up stuck in a lift with him and covering for him with Ari.
Although Ari tried to get her to stay permanently, she realised the situation with Tane made things awkward and decided to move in with Ziggy at the farm house. However, things were strained between her and Ari, who didn’t understand her decision. She managed to convince him it gave them privacy, while Tane quit his job. She was the one who found Tane after he was beaten up and was bothered when a stranger, Paul, turned up at Salt looking for him. She insisted on throwing a farewell for Bella and Nikau, who were planning to go to New Zealand, and invited Colby, who hadn’t known about the move. She overheard Tane and Ziggy discussing the fact that Tane owed money to Paul and Leon after losing some drugs they’d hidden in a van he’d been looking after, and let Ari know. She was present when Colby was arrested for the murder of Ross Nixon and let Bella and Nikau stay with her and Ziggy. Ziggy blurted out to her that Colby was guilty and Dean had helped cover it up. She was concerned with the way Ari and Tane were keeping guard at the house and was forced to tell Nikau that they were doing a job for Paul and Leon to pay off the debt. When the crooks insisted on more jobs, Mackenzie decided to sell her car to pay off the debt. She met Paul and Leon without telling Ari and Tane, handing the car over.
She refused to serve Dean at Salt then learnt that he’d disappeared, inviting Bella to stay with her. She was relieved when Dean returned and thanked Ari, who had tracked him down. She was shocked to learn that Ari and Tane were being forced by Paul and Leon to do an armed robbery and begged Dean to help them, with him breaking up the incident. She was spending the day with Ari when Nikau told them Chloe Anderson was in town: Ari considered her his stepdaughter, since her mother Mia had been his partner, but had never mentioned either of them to Mackenzie. Ari explained to her that he and Mia had broken up when he went to jail. Mackenzie was concerned when Mia turned up and went home, inadvertently springing the fact Ziggy and Tane had slept together and quizzing Ziggy about it later. She was unhappy about keeping the relationship from Dean and convinced Ziggy to tell him. She agreed to give Chloe a job after she beat Ryder in a cocktail-making competition but her concerns about Ari increased when he spent his time helping Mia and wasn’t able to say whether or not he still loved her. She and Ari went away together but despite having a good time, when they returned it was back to square one with Ari being awkward around her and choosing to spend time with Mia. She was lulled into a false sense of security when she heard Ari say he didn’t want to hurt her, only to be left devastated when Ari turned up and dumped her.
Her distress was increased by the fact she had just found out she was pregnant. She confided in first Ziggy and then Dean but was reluctant to tell Ari and not sure if she should go through with the pregnancy. She agreed to tell Ari, only to find he was in hospital after being run over and discover Mia at his bedside, instead admitting the truth to Tane. He told her not to tell Ari unless she was keeping the baby, since he had and Mia had had a number of miscarriages and lost a son born premature. She decided to have an abortion and booked it for the next day. She asked Dean to take her but he was reluctant since Ari didn’t know. He later changed his mind but Mackenzie decided to go on her own, feeling he’d judge her, while letting Ziggy think he was taking her. However, she then collapsed at home and was left on the floor overnight before managing to phone Dean. Rushed to hospital, it was discovered she’d had an ectopic. She rejected Mia’s offer of support and hid her feelings on being allowed home. She threw herself into returning to work but was uncomfortable when Ari and Mia came in, then collapsed in front of Ziggy and Tane. She was found to have an infection and was visited in hospital by Ari. Although having his support rallied her for a while, she was left feeling bitter when he went back to Mia afterwards.
Some straight talking from Ziggy convinced her to return to work, but she didn’t want to be around any of Ari’s family, asking Ziggy not to have Tane over and telling Ryder to sack Chloe. When he failed to do so, Mackenzie sacked Chloe herself. Although she regretted telling Ryder to do it when she learned he and Chloe were dating, she refused to reinstate her, resulting in Ryder resigning. She also suggested to Amber that Dean wasn’t as committed to their relationship as she was. With help from Dean and Ziggy, she managed to keep Salt running while she arranged staff cover. She was willing to give Ryder his job back but he ignored her message. When he did turn up, she refused to re-employ Chloe and, when Chloe revealed she knew about the miscarriage, threw everyone out of Salt and got drunk with Jasmine. She then turned up at the Parata house in a state and ended up making a pass at Tane. This prompted Ziggy to tell her to move out and she hid from Dean until summoning him to the motel where she was holed up getting drunk. Dean insisted on taking her back to his place. However, she carried on getting drunk at his flat, ignoring the situation at Salt and not paying her staff. When she did turn up, she got everything organised but also had a one-night stand with a customer, James. She also slept with Bella’s mentor Emmett Ellison, leaving Bella infuriated.
She was furious when Ryder and Chloe set up a food truck outside the surf club and no-one was willing to stop them. They began outdoing each other with special offers, then Chloe claimed to have seen a rat in Salt, forcing Mackenzie to close down for an inspection. Ryder gave her the money for it but it did little to calm things between them. She started sleeping with Emmett again and was furious when Dean warned him off her, so continued bringing random men home, meaning Dean couldn’t have Jai stay over. On hearing there was a party at the Partas’ house, she gatecrashed it and threw herself at an uninterested Emmett, having to be escorted out by Dean and Ari. She was left ashamed after seeing a video of her antics and disappeared, returning to a kerfuffle after the discovery of Susie McAllister’s body was thought to be her. She ordered Ryder out of Salt, which he had been looking after in her absence, and told Dean she wanted to move out, spending the night at a motel. Dean wasn’t convinced it was the best thing and set up camp in Salt, prompting Mackenzie to call new police officer Cash Newman to remove him. She explained to Dean she needed to stand on her own. She impulsively agreed to Bella holding a pre-party for her and Emmett’s exhibition in Salt and rushed to help when the food truck exploded, in the process learning Mia was pregnant. She was horrified when Ryder blamed her, and upset that people saw her that way now. Dean had to talk her out of leaving town and Ryder apologised when it turned out she was innocent. She offered him his job back but failed to make up with Ziggy.
She cleared the air with Emmett and bonded with Bella when Nikau cheated on her. She also cleared the air with Tane and they agreed to try and be friends. She convinced Dean to let her move back in and attended Bella’s exhibition, supporting her when Nikau caused a scene. She bonded with Ziggy again when Ziggy confessed to kissing Dean. She was with Ari when they learned Dean, Mia and Nikau had been in a car accident and went to the hospital with him. She was kissed by a newly single Tane but refused to take things further and instead began spending time with Logan Bennett, the surgeon who had saved Dean. Ziggy tried to convince her she liked him and sent him a text from her phone, leading to her leaving him a rambling voicemail. When she tracked him down, he collapsed from a minor head injury in front of her. After he spent an evening keeping her company at Salt, they kissed and then slept together the next day.
Ziggy called her for help with Dean, who had been staying with her since the accident, and Mackenzie ended up moving in after Ziggy went away. When Bella accused her of making it too easy for Dean, she called Ziggy and asked her to come back. She then bailed on Dean, forcing the pair to sort things out. She was bothered to realise how little she knew about Logan but he dodged her questions. She learned his unit was being moved away from the area and refused to ask him to stay for her, but he ended up resigning anyway. She felt obligated to entertain him given that he’d chosen to stay for her and was relieved when he got a job at Northern Districts. She was bewildered when Felicity warned her away from Tane, saying he was trouble, and ended up throwing her out of Salt. When she heard someone following her as she went to her car, she suspected it was Felicity. She interfered when Felicity asked Tane to stay away from the club where she worked, escalating the argument. She was the one to find Marilyn when she collapsed from the after-effects of organophosphate poisoning. When Marilyn subsequently turned up at Salt and ordered a bloody mary after walking out of hospital, Mackenzie fobbed her off with a tomato juice.
She encouraged Bella to get a job and ended up giving her a trial shift at Salt. Even though it was a disaster, she couldn’t bring herself to fire her and told her she’d let her know when she needed her again. She ended up accepting an offer from Dean to fire her. When she saw Tane with Felicity, she apologised for accusing her of being a stalker but also tried to dissuade them from seeing each other. She supported Logan when Marilyn made a complaint against him, but failed to talk her round, and was also in the middle when Dean accused Logan of not treating his injuries properly. She invited Logan to move in but forgot to mention it to Bella. She and Bella struck a deal to roster uses of the living area but he decided he wanted to move out again, saying he wasn’t interested in living in a share house. She was upset and also learned Ari and Mia were engaged.
She was stunned by the news Ari had been arrested for murder and by meeting Logan’s ex Neve Spicer. Feeling it was best to have Neve where she could keep an eye on her, she invited her to stay with them and ended up having to hire Felicity when she had no-one to keep an eye on Salt. She was concerned by how much attention Logan was giving Neve, including checking on her during the night, and decided Neve had to leave, only for Logan to go with her. Mackenzie walked in on them kissing and called the Australian Defence Force, from whom Neve had deserted, but didn’t say anything. Neve overheard half a conversation with Logan about it and attacked her, with Logan and Cash having to step in. Logan moved back in with Mackenzie and she talked Neve into turning herself in so Logan wouldn’t have to.
She was shocked by the news of Ari’s death, feeling they had never fully had closure about their relationship. She was reluctant to talk to Logan and her emotional reaction to a memorial video the residents had done left Logan wondering if she still loved him. After saying a private farewell to Ari on the beach, she assured Logan she had only seen him as a friend at the end. She then received a major blow when the insurance company failed to pay out over the gas attack: She had been counting on the money and was on the verge of losing Salt. She hid the problem from Logan while cutting staff hours and was frustrated when Dean told Rick, who mockingly offered to buy Salt at a low price. Dean gave her enough money to keep afloat for a week but she decided to make Felicity redundant. Felicity refused to accept it and Mackenzie confided in her. Felicity suggested holding an illegal poker night, which Mackenzie initially was against. However, then Logan had to pay off an overdue payment on her car. Mackenzie kept the extent of her troubles from him and decided to go ahead with the poker night, roping in Ryder to help her and Felicity. She earned enough to pay off some of her debts and pay back Dean, so Ryder convinced her to hold another one against Felicity’s advice. She still tried to hide everything from Logan, explaining her secretive behaviour by saying she had a surprise planned for him, with Ziggy coming to her rescue by providing a trip to Hunter Valley.
When Felcity pulled out of the poker night, Mackenzie asked Ziggy to help out, initially claiming it was a hen night and only revealed the truth when they got to Salt. This resulted in Dean finding out what was going on. One of the players, Nathan Silva, began pestering her to have another event. Mackenzie refused, but when Nathan arrived at Salt beaten up and explained he had debts, she gave him the money she’d put aside for Salt’s rent. Despite this, she refused Dean’s offer of his loan back and instead decided to have another poker night after all. Nathan paid back the money with interest, allowing her to pay her rent, and then introduced her to PK King, who offered her any sum of money to take part in the next game. Mackenzie told Felicity to get rid of someone to make room and afterwards PK approached her about a private night where the buy-in would earn her $50,000. Mackenzie agreed and even accepted his condition that Felicity stay away from the event, supposedly because he didn’t want a cop’s sister there, even though Ryder had left town and she had no other support. Ziggy and Tane went along to support her but, to her horror, PK told her that the house had lost and she now owed him $100,000, suggesting she might use a different way of paying him back. She went to his hotel room but refused to sleep with him, not wanting to cheat on Logan, and just gave him the $50,000 she had just earned. It was only afterwards that she learned PK had lied and she owed him nothing.
She still refused to go to Logan for help, hoping to get the money back. She tried to trick PK into agreeing to another poker night, aiming to take all the money. Instead, she and Dean were threatened by thugs who invaded Salt and stabbed Tane. She accepted Dean’s assertion that they couldn’t call an ambulance, but the only alternative was to ask Logan for help, which meant telling him the full story of her debts and the poker nights. She and Dean confronted PK and Nathan, saying they’d go to the police if they didn’t get the money back. She found herself questioned by the police when PK promptly turned up dead and correctly suspected Nathan was involved. With Logan having broken up with her, she was pleased to be reunited with Emmett but declined an offer to join him in New York, not wanting to run away from her mess, and threw a farewell meal for Bella. When she heard Felicity had been arrested for the poker nights, she considered leaving town but instead went to the police and confessed, saying Felicity had thought they had a license. She found out Logan had left town via voicemail and ejected Cash from Salt when he got drunk. She then learned that, because she was behind on the rent and had ignored letters addressed to Dean, she was being evicted from the flat. She moved in with Dean and Ziggy.
She tried to put things in order at Salt in case she went to jail but ended up breaking down in tears. She resolved to enjoy what could be her last day of freedom, surfing and going for a meal at Salt and also clearing the air with John when he had a go at her about dragging the surf club into it. Howver, she ended up getting drunk at Salt during the night and waking up terrified of court, with Dean having to convince her to go. She was given a fine and a good behaviour bond but was left even worse off financially. She was initially reluctant to accept Felicity’s offer of help but ended up taking her to the city to look for investors. However, she realised that anyone who took over would want to put their own stamp on it and treat her as a mere employee so decided to sell up instead. When Felicity offered to buy half the business, Mackenzie initially refused, not wanting to risk her money, but Cash talked her into accepting.
She initially rejected Felicity’s idea of a relaunch, with Dean having to remind her they were now partners. Felicity suggested getting a band named Lyrik, friends of hers, to play and Mackenzie agreed. Despite her initial reluctance, she was so impressed by the outcome that she asked Felicity to arrange a regular gig. Dean told her that one of his students, Todd, was interested in her and Mackenzie arranged to have dinner with him but later cancelled. Having arranged Lyrik’s first regular gig, she was left on tenterhooks as they had to hold last minute auditions for a new lead singer. She realised Ziggy was pregnant when she stopped drinking and encouraged Dean to tell her how he felt about it.
When Justin tried to get her to increase Lyrik’s fee, Mackenzie cancelled their gigs. She seemed to have missed out when the band got a new venue in Reefton Lakes and was further humiliated when her car broke down and she needed Justin, Theo and Kirby to help her out. However, Lyrik’s first gig at the new venue was a disaster and Mackenzie agreed to pay the higher fee in return for a twelve month contact guaranteeing Salt would be their only gig in the area.
When Felicity got engaged to Tane, Mackenzie picked up on the fact she wasn’t entirely sure but convinced her that nothing had changed and they might not get married for ages. When David, a customer she had assumed was drunk, collapsed with a stroke, she decided all the staff needed first aid training. Although upset to hear David had died, she changed her mind and instead said that the course should simply be open for those who wanted to do it but chose to do the training herself. She was furious when Lyrik cancelled a gig after Theo and Kirby had a falling out over Bob, demanding to be compensated for the money she’d spent on extra staff and food. She was mollified when Justin and Theo put on a free gig to draw in extra customers.
She decided to move out of the farm house before the baby was born and agreed to help Justin turn her room into a nursery. Dean asked her to keep an eye on Ziggy when he was forced to stay away while being investigated for partner abuse. Remi confided in her about liking a married woman and she realised it was Bree, later learning from him that Bree was being abused by her husband Jacob and alerting Theo and Kirby that Remi might be in trouble on learning Jacob was hanging around. She arranged a special breakfast for Tane and Felicity on the morning of their wedding which she attended with John. When she heard Felicity, Eden, Justin and Leah had all been involved in a car accident on the way to the wedding, she went to the hospital to wait for news.
She unveiled the nursery she had done for the baby with help from Dean’s friend Mali Hudson, then spotted a man, Gabe Miller, in Salt and hid from him, getting Dean to throw him out. She explained they had been engaged but he had walked out, leaving only a note, two months before the wedding. She eventually spoke to Gabe who admitted Rick paid him $50,000 to stay away from her. He offered Mackenzie the money back but she refused. Dean convinced her to spend time with Gabe. He offereed to help her out at Salt for free and, although she was uncomfortable with him invading her personal space, she slept with him. After some uncertainty, she talked it over with Dean and she and Gabe got back together but she clashed with him when he queried Felicity taking alcohol from Salt for a party at home. They looked over the finances and realised takings had been down since Lyrik stopped playing, prompting Mackenzie to suggest to Justin that Theo and Kirby could play as a duo.
She tried to control Felicity when she tried to return to work after the car accident and had a tendency to turn up drunk and belligerent. She invited Gabe to move in with her only for him to instead try and break up with her. Dean told her that Gabe might have cancer. When he was told that not only was it cancer but there was no cure, Mackenzie insisted he get a second opinion and then asked him to have chemotherapy to buy more time. She was upset at seeing how ill he was but, on learning Dean was considering cancelling a plan to move to Queensland after Jai and Amber, convinced him she’d be fine and waved him, Ziggy and baby Izzy off. She struggled seeing how ill Gabe was after his first chemo session, prompting him to leave town, saying goodbye with a note. She decided to go away for a while, asking Mali to keep an eye on the house. Although she said she was going to visit her mother, she actually went to Brisbane looking for Gabe. On her return, she spent two days hiding out at the house and was evasive with Tane and Felicity about what had happened. She eventually confessed to Tane, and John convinced her to accept Gabe’s decision.
Not liking being alone at the house, she asked Mali to move in and he eventually agreed. She then received news Gabe had died. For a distraction, she turned her attention to Tane’s cousin Kahu, helping him with ideas for a trawler business and then sleeping with him. Kahu soon lost interest when he realised she wasn’t as well-off as he thought, which Mackenzie wasn’t too bothered by. She tried to return to work only for Xander to find her crying in the store room. She felt uncomfortable around him as a result but eventually opened up to him. On learning it was Mali’s birthday the next day, she organised a surprise party for him, although she made an error by not inviting Rose, thinking things were tense between them.
She was concerned when Xander began spending time with Kate Vella, the widow of his murdered friend Jamie, and suggested she was leaning too heavily on him. On learning Mali was struggling to pay his board shop rent after an injury stopped him giving surf lessons, she recalled her own difficulties and advised him to talk to Alf and get a rent freeze. She was excited about the Lyrik album and tried to help Mali by paying his share of the house rent, although he insisted on repaying her. She and Xander then decided to help out Mali by running the surf lessons in his absence.
When she learned Kirby used to be a keen surfer until she had an accident, she borrowed some equipment for her so she could surf again, later arranging for Mali to make her a board. She joined Marilyn on a visit to Irene to cheer her up after John moved out. When Lyrik lost the rights to use Kirby’s songs, Mackenzie cancelled their gigs and contacted Kirby’s new manager Forrest Dukes, who offered financial compensation and future gigs from Kirby. She agreed to let John use Salt for a cocktail-making evening for the surf club committee, only for him to break one of her most expensive bottles of whiskey. Despite this, she agreed to trust Xander, who had been in charge at the time, to look after things while she went to spend time with Dean, Ziggy and Izzy.
She returned to find Mali’s ex-girlfriend Zara Campbell staying at the house while Mali had moved in with Rose, and told him Zara couldn’t stay at the house without him. She learned Tane and Felicity were trying for a baby, only to discover Felicity was still taking the pill, and tried to convince her to tell Tane. When Tane realised something was going on between them, Mackenzie told him to talk to Felicity. This resulted in Tane finding out and Felicity blamed Mack. Mackenzie learned Xander had arranged a Salt gig without telling her and convinced Tane to come along while also giving Xander a fright about turning a profit. Realising Tane was sleeping in the gym, she offered him the spare room at hers, leading to Felicity accusing her of taking sides. After trying to give everyone at Salt free meals and helping herself to the day’s takings, Felicity left town for a while after giving Mackenzie Tane’s wedding ring and asking her to return it to him. Mackenzie offered it to him and retrieved it after he binned it.
Felicity turned up during the night wanting to see Tane but Mackenzie sent her away, later admitting to Cash that she hadn’t wanted Felicity to know that Tane was out spending the night with another woman. When she heard, Felicity rushed to Salt to blame her, only for Mackenzie to have a heart attack. She was resuscitated by Xander and Cash and rushed to hospital. She sent Felicity away when she tried to visit and met heart surgeon Levi Fowler, who diagnosed her with Spontaneous Carotid Artery Dissection and repaired the torn artery. She bonded with Levi, who spent the night keeping her company. However, she felt nervous in hospital and, when Xander mentioned he had felt better when he got home, she discharged herself against Levi’s advice, but still felt anxious. After reading that her SCAD could reoccur, she collapsed and told Tane to phone an ambulance. When the paramedics found nothing wrong with her, she ignored their advice to go to hospital for checks and sent them away again, but quickly passed out and was rushed to hospital needing surgery for a blood clot. She came through the surgery and defended Xander to Levi when he blamed him for her leaving hospital.
She learned from Mali that her friends were arranging a fundraiser for treatment into her condition and was shocked when Levi gave her permission to leave hospital temporarily to attend. She refused to go, saying she only felt safe in hospital, but Levi convinced her to go with him. On their return to the hospital, she kissed him. She got him to escort her home and kissed him again, leading to him being thrown out by Mali, who felt he was taking advantage. She got him to give her a lift home from rehab and tried to seduce him, only for him to abruptly leave and then tell her he was married. She suggested they needed to get each other out of their system and slept with him only for him to get a call from his wife Imogen while they were in bed together. She declined to continue the affair at first but her resolve soon crumbled and they spent the night in a motel room. However, she had to hide in the bathroom when Eden turned up. They continued the affair but she was put out when Levi told her not to text him while he was with Imogen.
Tane and Mali both found out and didn’t entirely approve but ultimately supported her. She ordered them both out of the house so she could have Levi stay over but when Mali came back and made a fuss, Mackenzie told him to move out. She quickly changed her mind, then had to make excuses when Felicity turned up while Levi was there. When Levi cancelled a visit, she was left in a bad mood and rudely rejected Xander’s idea for an event at Salt involving wine and painting, receiving the cold shoulder from him when they next worked together. Having heard from Eden that he and Imogen were planning to start a family, she confronted Levi and was shocked when he instead offered to leave Imogen for her, quickly turning him down. She resumed the affair, then got worried that Alf had seen them kissing. She convinced Levi they should go away together although he had to leave early when Eden needed help after Remi injured himself overdoing his physio. Their next attempt to spend time alone together was foiled by Felicity railroading her into attending a fundraiser at Salt for the baby Tane had found abandoned and named Maia, which she ended up taking Levi along to. When Eden invited Imogen for a visit, Mackenzie’s curiosity got the better of her and she ended up introducing herself and inviting them for a coffee at Salt, which angered Levi.
Their secrecy didn’t last for long as Eden then saw them kissing. She ended up at odds with Felicity, who took Eden’s side. Levi went to tell Imogen, returning to Mackenzie having officially left her. Mackenzie was rather thrown to find herself living with Levi straightaway but realised she didn’t want him to go. They attempted a first official outing at Salt but received a cool reception from Felicity. Levi asked her if she thought getting a cold shoulder from everyone was worth it but she told him it was. Xander summoned her and Felicity to Salt and told them that, because of their absences, staff weren’t bothering to turn up. They agreed to stay and help him out but it soon descended into an argument which saw Xander quit. She and Felicity agreed to work together.
She celebrated Levi being given a new cardiothoracic unit at Northern Districts Hospital but was unnerved when Levi hid the fact he’d been in contact with Imogen and then boxes full of Levi’s things arrived from Imogen, including her wedding rings marked specifically for Mackenzie. Mackenzie struggled with trusting Levi, especially when she saw him chatting with a female patient in much the same way he had her. She gave Nat Allen, a woman she met at the surf club, Mali’s address, only for her and Levi to come home and find Nat and her brothers Gordie and Campbell in the house, who tied them up and demanded to see Mali and his brother Iluka, stabbing Levi when he got free. Mackenzie had to treat Levi using his medical kit until the Allens took Iluka away with them. She was furious with Mali who asked her to keep quiet with the police so the Allens wouldn’t hurt Iluka. She considered it but then Levi took a turn for the worse and needed further surgery, after which she told Rose the whole story.