You can also use the excellent URI.js library by Rodney Rehm. Here's how:-
var qs = URI('www.mysite.com/default.aspx?dest=aboutus.aspx').query(true); // == { dest : 'aboutus.aspx' }
alert(qs.dest); // == aboutus.aspx
And to parse the query string of current page:-
var $_GET = URI(document.URL).query(true); // ala PHP
alert($_GET['dest']); // == aboutus.aspx