A New Plymouth woman’s “whole body went numb” after realising she’d won big with Lotto – and that’s before she even knew the amount.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, won $14.3 million with Powerball first division in last Wednesday’s draw.

She told Lotto NZ she had been playing the same Lotto numbers for years but would usually choose a random Powerball number.

Late last year, she decided to stick with just one – her favourite, number five.

“It’s funny, but about six months ago I chose to make my ‘go-to’ Powerball number five, and I have stuck with it ever since,” she said.

A few days before winning, she was chatting with her mum when Lotto came up in conversation.

“I said to her – ‘wouldn’t it be amazing to win and be able to help people with that money – it’d definitely set you up.’

“I just can’t believe we are here a week later.”

On Thursday, she read online that Powerball had been won and logged in to check her ticket.

“It’s like I was cheering my ticket on.

“I got three numbers and said, ‘keep going.’ Then it was four – ‘keep going.’ Then five.

“I knew if I got the next number I’d be winning a big prize – and it came out – I had all six numbers.

“Then by the time I’d processed that, I saw the Powerball circle, and I dropped my phone in shock – I didn’t even know how much it was at that point, but my whole body went numb.”

Once she steadied herself, she looked at the amount she’d won and called her mum.

“I was crying, and I said, ‘Oh my god, Mum, I’ve just won Powerball.’

“Mum was blown away. We both cried on the phone for a while before I thought I’d better call my husband.

“He was at work so I ‘ummed and ahhed’ whether to wait for him to get home, but I couldn’t.

“I asked him if he was alone, and when he said yes, I blurted out ‘we’ve won $14 million.’ He said the rest of the day was a bit of a struggle.”

Over the weekend, the couple shared a takeaway and had a glass of champagne to celebrate their win.

“We’ll celebrate with our family in the future – but for now that was perfect.”

The couple are taking time to let the enormity of their win sink in and exploring what they might do with the money.

“One thing we know is that we want to help others with this. We just need time to figure out the best way to do that.”