diff --git a/lib/webrat/mechanize.rb b/lib/webrat/mechanize.rb
index e87ec30..d8e140b 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/mechanize.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/mechanize.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ module Webrat #:nodoc:
     attr_accessor :response
     alias :page :response
     
+    def request_page(url, http_method, data) #:nodoc:
+      super(absolute_url(url), http_method, data)
+    end
+    
     def get(url, data, headers_argument_not_used = nil)
       @response = mechanize.get(url, data)
     end
@@ -36,7 +40,36 @@ module Webrat #:nodoc:
     end
 
     def_delegators :mechanize, :basic_auth
+    
+    def absolute_url(url) #:nodoc:
+      current_host, current_path = split_current_url
+      if url =~ Regexp.new('^https?://')
+        url
+      elsif url =~ Regexp.new('^/')
+        current_host + url
+      elsif url =~ Regexp.new('^\.')
+        current_host + absolute_path(current_path, url)
+      else
+        url
+      end
+    end
+    
+    private
+      def split_current_url
+        current_url =~ Regexp.new('^(https?://[^/]+)(/.*)?')
+        [Regexp.last_match(1), Regexp.last_match(2)]
+      end
       
+      def absolute_path(current_path, url)
+        levels_up = url.split('/').find_all { |x| x == '..' }.size
+        ancestor = if current_path.nil?
+          ""
+        else
+          current_path.split("/")[0..(-1 - levels_up)].join("/")
+        end
+        descendent = url.split("/")[levels_up..-1]
+        "#{ancestor}/#{descendent}"
+      end
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/spec/webrat/mechanize/mechanize_session_spec.rb b/spec/webrat/mechanize/mechanize_session_spec.rb
index 81d234e..4714140 100644
--- a/spec/webrat/mechanize/mechanize_session_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/webrat/mechanize/mechanize_session_spec.rb
@@ -33,4 +33,45 @@ describe Webrat::MechanizeSession do
       Webrat::MechanizeSession.new.post(url, data)
     end
   end
+  
+  describe "#absolute_url" do
+    before(:each) do
+      @session = Webrat::MechanizeSession.new
+      @session.stub!(:current_url).and_return(absolute_url)
+    end
+    
+    def absolute_url
+      'http://test.host/users/fred/cabbages'
+    end
+    
+    def rooted_url
+      '/users/fred/cabbages'
+    end
+    
+    def relative_url
+      '../../wilma'
+    end
+    
+    it "should return unmodified url if prefixed with scheme" do
+      @session.absolute_url(absolute_url).should == absolute_url
+    end
+    
+    it "should prefix scheme and hostname if url begins with /" do
+      @session.absolute_url(rooted_url).should == absolute_url
+    end
+    
+    it "should resolve sibling URLs relative to current path" do
+      @session.absolute_url(relative_url).should == 'http://test.host/users/wilma'
+    end
+    
+    it "should cope with sibling URLs from root of site" do
+      @session.stub!(:current_url).and_return('http://test.host')
+      @session.absolute_url(relative_url).should == 'http://test.host/wilma'
+    end
+    
+    it "should cope with https" do
+      @session.stub!(:current_url).and_return('https://test.host')
+      @session.absolute_url(relative_url).should == 'https://test.host/wilma'
+    end
+  end
 end
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