A "humble and hard-working" pig hunter from Papakura worked for six hours as he waited for his wife to finish work before telling her he had won $28.7 million in the country's biggest single Lotto win.
Both of them are heading back to work today.
Speaking exclusively to The New Zealand Herald , on the condition of anonymity, the self-employed man, who would not disclose their occupations, said he did not want to distract his wife from her job.
"I picked her up after her work and asked her to shake my hand, in order to meet New Zealand's latest millionaire."
Asked what was going through his mind during the day while he waited to tell her, he said: "Giving her the shock of her life."
That shock sent her into tears.
"We have been down to our last dollar a couple of times this year, so winning this much money is amazing."
He initially tossed the ticket aside when he saw the winning numbers appear on television on Saturday night.
"I had a quick flash through it and I go: `Oh, I didn't win' and just threw it on the floor.
"When I went to bed, I picked it up and put it on my desk drawer and left it there all day Sunday.
"After I watched the news and they said that it hadn't been cashed in yet, I thought: 'I've got a chance'."
It took until about 9am on Monday until he found out he won, after his daughter urged him to check the numbers online, knowing the winning ticket was bought in Papakura.
"We were just so overwhelmed with it all and she was just crying and couldn't believe it and going; `No this is not true.' We checked the ticket quite a few times."
He said his hands were shaking so much he could not write his name on the back of the ticket but he managed to take a photo of the ticket.
He opted to drive to Wellington to claim his prize yesterday, for some "time to think".
He was accompanied by some family members, but left his wife in Auckland.
"I sent her back to work," he said.
He kept his lucky ticket in his wallet, in the chest pocket of his camouflage hunting shirt, which he was wearing when he arrived at the NZ Lotteries Wellington office to claim his prize.
He bought Lotto tickets occasionally.
Sleep had not come easily since learning of the win.
Asked how the win could change his life, he said: "I'm going through the stage of still thinking about it all, still trying to get it to sink in ... I don't know. I like the way my life is at the moment, so I hope I can still keep it that way, kind of. Probably impossible, but I'll try."
He had a large but close extended family who would meet this weekend, to discuss how the money might be used.
The man said he had a "couple of little debts" which the win might help pay off.
He "definitely" planned to give to charity but would do some research before finding the right cause.
NZ Lotteries spokeswoman Karen Jones said the man did not even want the Lotteries Commission to shout him lunch as a celebration.
"All he wanted was a hot chocolate and he was on his way," she said.
The win was the country's biggest, because a $36 million Big Wednesday prize won in June last year in Masterton went to a family syndicate of four people.
The next biggest Powerball win was $22.4 million which went to a Manukau player in October last year.
Two Manukau division one winners arrived at the Wellington NZ Lotteries office yesterday to claim their two-week-old $1.3 million prize, NZPA reported.
The Auckland couple, who bought their winning ticket at Pakuranga Lotto in Manukau on October 2, plan on paying off their mortgage, doing a few things around the house, helping out family, and upping their donation to the SPCA.
But they also plan to be careful with their money, so they can retire a few years earlier than planned.
