Secure HTTPS calls?

Hello Fellow ASP.NET Fans!

I'm looking to make a secure HTTPS call from one of my applications to a page on my site. Imagine I make a call like this..

https://www.mysite.com/test/ secure.aspx ?search=whatever+user=john+password=rabbits

My question is, is this call secure? Is the information being passed across (especially the password!) using the *secure* connection, or not? Is it first required that a handshake be setup, etc before making this call, or otherwise?

I understand this is a relatively general question and not specific to VB.NET, however I would appreciate any light you could shed on the matter.

Thank you!!!

Johnnyz