I knocked up a really simple bash script to mount a network drive and open the resulting folder. It does some checking like if the mount point currently exists and if it's already mounted. In total I probably spent 10 minutes writing it, which I thought was pretty good since I've not done any scripting in ages.

So, I need it to be runnable by idiots on Macs. Asking them to fire up a terminal and type stuff into it is not an option. It needs to be a desktop icon they click on. Applescript looks like it'll do the trick, however I've just spent 2 hours just trying to get it to check wether a folder exists and create it (currently failing on both counts). Is there any good resources out there? Can't find anything myself, it's all either way too complicated for an novice like myself to follow or doesn't cover the areas I need (checking files/folders, mounting drives etc.).

Currently my Applescript file has one line in it to simply call the old bash script. Ideally I've liked to do the whole lot in applescript.

I haven't AppleScripted since OS9, but the ScriptEditor app had all the documentation I needed. If you need more, try starting at MacScripter. The Wikipedia article has a load of links, too, including a WikiBook on AppleScript (which I haven't looked at).