Powerball winner thought he might have been dreaming

A West Auckland mum was woken by her partner using his "serious voice" and urging her to double check that the seven digits on his phone meant they had won $8 million in Lotto's Powerball.

It was early Sunday morning and the young dad was checking his emails when he saw one from MyLotto saying he had won in Saturday night's draw.

Still half asleep, he settled his baby and checked his Lotto ticket on the Lotto NZ App when the numbers flashed up.

He got more and more excited as each number was circled.

"When I saw $8,000,000 staring back at me, my heart started pounding. I jumped straight off the couch and ran into the bedroom where my partner was sleeping – my mind was buzzing."

His partner was just as dazed.

"When he called my name, I could tell something was up straight away — he had his serious voice on," the woman said.

"He showed me the ticket on his phone, then just looked at me and said 'an 8 with six zeros… that's $8m, right?'"

The couple looked at each other in shock. Their hearts were hammering against their chests.

"We put our hands on each other's chests, and sure enough both our hearts were racing — it was such a surreal moment!," the man said.

They then spent the rest of Sunday visiting family to share their lucky news.

"Everyone we've told has been so happy for us. We've got a young family so this really couldn't have come at a better time — we've got our whole lives ahead of us."

The first big purchase will be buying their first home. They also plan to give some of their winnings to their families and do some traveling.

"We've always wanted to go to Bora Bora as well, it's crazy to think we can just do it now."