'We've bloody won it!': Tea swapped for champagne in Northland couple's $5.5m Lotto win

An early morning cup of tea was swapped for a bottle of bubbles after a Northland couple discovered they'd won $5.5 million in last Wednesday's Lotto draw.

The multi-millionaires, who wish to remain anonymous, first discovered their local Lotto store had sold a winning ticket on Thursday morning.

Reading the news in bed while her husband was making a cup of tea, the first article she read was about the Taipa Foodmarket selling the winning ticket.

The wife asked her husband if it was the store he bought their ticket and they quickly found out how lucky their piece of yellow paper was.

"As I read out the winning numbers, he checked them off on our ticket – he kept saying 'yes… yes… yes…' in quite a monotone voice. I was beginning to wonder what was going on," the wife said.

After grabbing the bottle of bubbles they had spare for a moment of celebration, the pair called their children to let them in on the good news.

It took six days for them to claim their $5.5 million Powerball prize, tucking it away in an underwear draw for safe keeping.

Now, with the winnings safely in their bank account the wife said they are looking forward to enjoying their prize.

"Sharing the winnings is the most important thing for us – this prize is a gift and we want to share it. We can't wait to help out the kids especially, it's going to make such a difference," she said.

"We're proud Northlanders and love the community we live in. We're really keen to support local businesses and give back to our local community with these winnings – we're really excited about what will be possible."

The draw on Wednesday, May 1 was the eight time this year Powerball First Division was struck.

Powerball First Division wins this year

• May 1, $5.5 million, Taipa Foodmarket

• April 24, $5.3 million, MyLotto

• April 17, $16.2 million, MyLotto

• March 13, $11 million, Unichem Stortford Lodge

• February 16, $5.5 million, MyLotto

• February 9, $8 million, MyLotto

• January 26, $10 million, Feilding Video Centre

• January 2, $22.3 million, Inglewood Bookcentre