After checking their ticket a couple of times and calling their daughter to double-check the numbers, the couple realised they really had won.
"We don't have the internet, so we sat in front of the TV waiting for the official results to come on later in the evening. There was a bit of suspense, I tell you," he said.
"Then the results popped up on TV and we saw just how much we'd won - $4.5 million. We were thrilled to have won at all, so finding out it was such a large prize was just the icing on the cake," the winner said.
The couple choose their own numbers and have been playing for more than 25 years. "It's something to look forward to on Saturday night when you're having a cup of cocoa or cup of tea," he said.
They had won about $600 over the years - "but nothing flash like this".
After letting the reality of their win sink in last Saturday night, the winners headed to bed to get some rest - but not before tucking their winning ticket away for safe keeping.
"My wife put the ticket in her handbag and hid the bag in the wardrobe in our bedroom. As we climbed into bed she turned to me and said, 'If anyone tries to steal it tonight, I'll kill them'.
"I'd have felt really sorry for anyone silly enough to try and take the ticket off her," he said, laughing.
After a restless night, the couple claimed their prize the next morning at Greerton Lotto. "The girls at the Lotto store were so excited for us - there were lots of hugs going around. That was when I felt the most emotional about the whole thing. Then they took us aside so we could get everything sorted."
Once they had handed the winning ticket over and filled in the paperwork, the winners headed back home and celebrated their win.
"I wanted to have a cold beer to celebrate after checking the ticket on Saturday, but it was a bit late so we had one after we handed our ticket in the next day instead. A beer has never tasted better."
The $4.5 million is now in their bank account and the couple are beginning to think about what they're going to do with the money. "We've always been very careful with money, so it's going to be a real treat just being able to say 'I'll take it' when we see something we like in a shop - I think shopping will be a lot more fun now. We might want to go for a cruise and slip in a few bubbles. If it comes up, at least we'll be able to afford it."
The man, who used to work long hours, said he enjoyed the simple things in life these days - including gardening, crosswords and watching television murder mysteries.
"I'm a pretty drab fella. I've had to slow down quite a bit but it's what you do that maps your life."
Greerton Lotto owner Belinda Sands told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend the couple were regulars. "They come in every week for as long as I can remember and I've been here 12 years. They come in and have a laugh with us."
When she saw them walking toward the shop on Monday she instantly suspected they may have been the big winners.
"I never see them early in the week.
"It was so nice. They're just such normal people and now the world has opened up to them. You would never know if you saw them on the street."
So, will the winning couple keep playing Lotto?
"I think we'll keep playing," the man said, before they returned to Greerton Lotto yesterday to buy another ticket.