Winning the lottery a literal dream come true for Australian man

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- An Australian man who won a lottery prize worth $3.5 million said it wasn't entirely a surprise -- he had dreamed the win just three weeks earlier.

The Sydney man told NSW Lotteries officials when he and his wife claimed the prize Sunday that the dream left him with a strong feeling that he was going to win the Set for Life drawing, which carries a top prize of $14,374 every month for 20 years.

"Three weeks ago I had a dream where I won Set for Life," the man said. "Then yesterday when we were sitting on the beach relaxing, I looked at my wife, grabbed her hands and I said to her, 'We are about to win something, you just wait.'"

"After that dream, I just had this overwhelming feeling that we were going to win, and turns out I was right!" the winner said.

The couple said they plan to use the money to retire early, do some traveling, fix up their home and give to charity.